Issuers of municipal bonds need to disclose borrowings in offer documents

Issuers of municipal debt securities will have to disclose all borrowings and revenue grant details of the past three years in the offer document, markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a guidance note.

The directions came after Sebi received certain queries from market participants seeking guidance on interpretation of some of the provisions of amended Municipal Regulations.

Sebi said issuers will have to disclose details of all borrowings along with outstanding amount of borrowings during the three years for which the audited financial information is being included in the offer document.

Further, revenue grant received and spent during the last three years along with separate disclosures of refundable grants will have to be disclosed in the document, it added.
 

With regard to due diligence, Sebi said merchant banker(s) may rely on the summarised English translations of the various non-financial documents, legal papers which are in the regional language of the respective issuers while carrying out due diligence.