No decision yet on BSNL-MTNL merger

11th December 2004: The government said it had not taken any decision so far regarding the merger of telecom PSUs BSNL and MTNL. “The government has not yet taken any decision regarding merger of MTNL and BSNL,” minister of state for IT and telecom Shakeel Ahmad said. He said a consortium of consultants has been appointed for synergising the operations of BSNL and MTNL and the advisor is yet to submit its report to the government.

30-days notice must for merger, bonus shares

9th December 2004: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said the listed companies, whose stocks are available for derivatives contracts or were part of index with derivatives, should give a 30-days notice for corporate action like merger, de-mergers, share split and bonus shares. The clause 16 of the equity listing agreement should be amended to incorporate this change, Sebi said in a communication to stock exchanges.

Before, Sebi had said that listed companies have to give an intimation 15 days in advance in case of demat scrips and 21 calendar days in case of physical scrips to the stock exchanges, about their book-closure/record date. This amendment is being introduced on the basis of suggestion by panel on derivatives and Market Risk Management that the listing agreement clause be ended for extension of notice period only for purpose of adjustment of corporate actions like mergers and bonus shares and that too only for such stocks on which derivatives are available. This decision should be implemented with immediate effect, Sebi added.

Videocon to merge Petrocon with itself

9th December 2004: Videocon Industries will merge Petrocon India with itself. The valuation of shares and exchange ratio would be five shares of the company for every two shares held in Petrocon India. In a meeting, the Videocon board approved the scheme of amalgamation of Petrocon India with itself and the valuation of shares together with the exchange ratio determined and recommended by the valuers. Videocon has informed the same to Bombay Stock Exchange. The exchange ratio has been proposed as five shares of Videocon for every two shares held in Petrocon India.