Thursday's market regulator eased startup access to the Indian market as it shifted towards a potential exodus from local businesses to foreign financial markets.
SEBI has approved a number of changes to the rules for listing on the Innovators growth platform , including the two-year reduction at a time when early-stage investors are required to hold 25% of the pre-issue capital, and enabling IPO bound startups to allocate up to sixty percent of the size of the issue to any eligible investor with an approximately 30-day lockin on these shares.Right now, start-ups are not allowed to make discretionary allocations.The regulator has also lowered the threshold for triggering open bids from 25% to 49% of start-ups, except when there is a change in the management control over the target corporation.
The delisting will be considered a success if the acquiring or promoting shareholder,as well as the shares deposited and accepted, reaches 75% of the total issued shares of this category , and a minimum of 50 percent of the public share ownership is available and accepted.
Moreover, the reverse book building mechanism will not be applicable to start-ups looking to become private.In order to calculate the price of the offer, the floor price will be determined in terms of take-over regulations, in addition to the delisting price as warranted by the purchaser or promoter.
SEBI has also agreed to relax the rules for companies wishing to migrate to the main board of directors from the Innovation Growth Platform.Start-ups wishing to be listed on the main board are now able to do so , through the allocation of 50% of the capital to skilled institutional purchases.
This SEBI move intends to encourage successful Indian startups to enter domestic markets rather than foreign offices.