SEBI removes minimum shareholding norm for non promoters for OFS

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on September 30 modified a few guidelines for non promoters seeking to offload stake via offer-for-sale (OFS).

SEBI removed the minimum 10 percent shareholding requirement for non promoter shareholders to sell shares via the offer-for-sale mechanism. Earlier, the capital market regulator allowed non promoters having 10 percent stake in the firm and willing to offer shares of at least Rs 25 crore as eligible to offer their shares through OFS mechanism.

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The regulator also reduced the existing cooling off period to a range of plus-2 weeks to plus-12 weeks based on liquidity of securities of such eligible companies. Earlier, the cooling off period  was at plus-12 weeks.

SEBI also allowed retail investors to bid for the unsubscribed portion of the non retail segment. It also said that the OFS mechanism has been made available to unit holders, sellers of listed REITs and InvITs to offer their holdings.

"These changes are aimed at bringing in more flexibility and efficiency to the OFS framework," SEBI said.