Simplified Listing Agreement for Debt Securities

SEBI vide its circular SEBI/IMD/BOND/1/2009/11/05 dated May 11, 2009 has come out with a new simplified listing agreement for Debt Securities. This is a part of the SEBI’s continuous efforts to rationalize the disclosure norms for listing of debt issuances. The new listing agreement is based on the following principles.

• Where the equity of an issuer is listed, and such an issuer seeks listing of debt securities (whether by way of a public issue or a private placement), minimal incremental disclosures related to the debt security issuance would be sufficient, since large amount of information is already in public domain and material developments are disclosed under the equity Listing Agreement on a nearly continuous basis. Part A of the Listing Agreement prescribes only incremental disclosures which are relevant for debt securities of such issuers whose equity shares are listed on the Exchange.
• Where the equity of an issuer is not listed, and such an issuer seeks listing of debt securities (whether issued by way of a public issue or a private placement), detailed disclosures, fewer than those made under the equity Listing Agreement, would need to be made. Part B of the Listing agreement is applicable to issuers whose equity shares are not listed on the Exchange, prescribes detailed disclosures.

Copy of the circular is available here.