Stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said on Wednesday it has set up a panel to review current takeover norms.
The panel, which was set up on 4 September 2009, will be chaired by C. Achuthan, a former presiding officer of the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT)
Other members in the committee are advocates Kumar Desai and Somasekhar Sundaresan, Tata Steel Group Chief Financial Officer Kaushik Chatterjee, Larsen & Toubro Chief Financial Officer Y.M. Deosthalee, the Indian Institute of Management's N. Venkateshwaran, Tamil Nadu Investors' Association President A.K. Narayanan, Kotak Mahindra Capital Co. Executive Director Sourav Malik and DSP Merrill Lynch's Managing Director Raj Balakrishnan.
Also on the committee from Sebi are Usha Narayanan, executive director, corporation finance department; J. Ranganayakulu, executive director, legal department; and Neelam Bhardwaj, general manager, corporation finance department, division of corporate restructuring.
Sebi introduced a formal takeover code in 1997, which helped set basic rules for mergers and acquisitions in the then nascent market for such transactions. Sebi last did a review of the code in 2002.
The regulator is reportedly examines the possibility of making changes to some of the code's key provisions such as the trigger limit for open offers. It will also look at doing away with the provision of non-compete fee and reviewing norms relating to indirect acquisition.