SEBI has amended the SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011 on August 13, 2021, in terms of which the below mentioned relaxations have been provided from disclosure requirements. Such relaxations will come into force from April 1, 2022:

i.    If an acquirer together with persons acting in concert (‘PAC’) acquires shares or voting rights, aggregating to 5% or more of the shares in the target company, the same is required to be disclosed in the prescribed form. Presently, for computation of 5% or more of the shares from the disclosure perspective, the existing shares held by the acquirer and PAC in such target company is also considered, in addition to the fresh acquisition;

ii.   For disclosure of aggregate shareholding, SEBI has done away with the continual and annual disclosure requirements applicable to the promoters along with PAC and persons holding 25% or more of the shares or voting rights in a listed entity along with PAC; and

iii.  The disclosure requirements will not be applicable for creation, invocation, or release of encumbrance of shares undertaken in a depository.

As per the SEBI press release dated August 6, 2021, the relaxations from disclosures have been given on account of implementation of the system driven disclosures.