SAT order to provide reprieve for brokers
Mumbai: Brokers who had registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) before 1997 may be exempted from registration fees prescribed recently by the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

Brokers, who had appealed before the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT), said the hearing on the fee continuity issue was over and the tribunal was expected to come out with a final order soon. They said the tribunal was planning to extend the fee continuity benefit to brokers, albeit with stringent riders.

As per the new order, any broker who had corporatised and had to take fresh registration with Sebi as corporate entity would get the benefit, irrespective of whether the stock exchange was corporatised.

Other conditions are that the benefit will be available to those brokers, who had registered as corporate entities under the Companies Act 1956 and hold at least 40 per cent holding in the new corporatised entity and the broker is a director in the new firm.

Thus, April 1, 1997, which was fixed by Sebi as the date for fee continuity benefit will be extended to brokers seeking fresh registration after corporatisation, would not apply any more.
Sebi amended the regulations on stock broker and sub-broker fees in 1997 to promote corporatisation of stock exchanges.

Sebi ruled that those brokers who had corporatised in 1997 did not need to pay afresh. It declined to extend the benefit to those brokers who had corporatised before 1997.
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SEBI to allow regional SEs to self-list
Mumbai: A SEBI panel has come out with a series of recommendations on the future of regional stock exchanges (RSEs). The recommendations include that RSEs be allowed self-listing through an IPO or bring in strategic partners so that they could be a useful platform for small and medium enterprises to raise funds.

The committee headed by the SEBI Whole-Time Member, Mr G. Anantharaman, also asked all the RSEs to collectively choose either a BSE model or in the alternative the ICSE (Inter-connected Stock Exchange) model in order to succeed. Overseas listing will also be permitted after the exchange gets itself listed on the domestic markets, the committee said.

According to the panel, the RSE can bring in a strategic investor who will hold less than 15 per cent share capital and voting rights in the stock exchange. The strategic partner could hold up to a maximum of 26 per cent stake if it is a multilateral agency, an exchange, insurance company, bank, depository or a clearing corporation.

The SEBI recommendations, which come in the wake of massive loss of business suffered by regional stock exchanges, said small exchanges that want to close down must be allowed to do so. However, they could do so only after delisting non-compliant firms.
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Fidelity hikes stake in Satnam Overseas
New Delhi: Fidelity International has purchased a 0.7 per cent stake in Satnam Overseas taking its total stake to 8.74 per cent in the company. After the transaction, the promoters' shareholding in Satnam Overseas is 44.12 per cent, domestic institutions hold 8.63 per cent and FIIs' 8.74 per cent. Satnam has recently announced setting up of a frozen food processing facility in Sonepat, Haryana.
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International Tractors to float IPO
New Delhi: Domestic tractor maker International Tractors Ltd (ITL) is planning to go in for an initial public offering and is in talks to offload a further 10-per cent stake to a private equity player to raise funds for its overseas expansion plans.

L.D. Mittal, chairman, ITL said the company is likely to go in for an IPO in the beginning of 2007. The company is in talks with a few private equity firms to offload about 7-10 per cent in ITL. This transaction would take the total number of private equity/strategic investors in ITL to four he said.

ITL, which manufactures the Sonalika brand of tractors, recently offloaded 10 per cent stake to private equity major 3i. Citigroup already holds 10 per cent stake in ITL, while Japanese tractor maker Yanmar has a stake of 12 per cent.

ITL plans to acquire tractor assembly units outside India and has identified Africa as a focus region. The company plans to set up two units in the continent. "The units should come up at a cost of Rs100 crore each. This would be done in tie-up with a local joint venture partner," Mittal said. ITL already has a marketing/distribution tie-up with the Tata Group to sell its tractors in Africa.
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