Home Back   
 
PR- 166/2006

 

PR – 166/2006

 

SEBI  Board approves (1) guidelines for Real Estate Mutual Funds and (2)Changes in Venture Capital Fund lock- in period for IPOs

 

            The SEBI Board at its meeting held today in Mumbai approved the guidelines for Real Estate Mutual Funds (REMFs). Real Estate Mutual Fund Scheme means a scheme of a mutual fund which has investment objective to invest directly or indirectly in real estate property and shall be governed by the provisions and guidelines under SEBI (Mutual Funds) regulations.  The structure of the REMFs, initially, shall be close ended. The units of REMFs shall be compulsorily listed on the stock exchanges and NAV of the scheme shall be declared daily.

 

The REMFs shall appoint custodian who has been granted a certificate of registration to carry on the business of custodian of securities by the Board. The custodian shall safe keep the title of real estate properties held by the REMFs.  These schemes can invest 1) directly in real estate properties within India, (2) Mortgage (housing lease) backed securities (3) Equity shares/ bonds/ debentures of listed/ unlisted companies which deal in properties and also undertake property development and in (4) Other securities.

 

The Board also decided that the shareholding of Venture Capital Funds (VCFs) and Foreign Venture Capital Investors (FCVIs) held in a company prior to making an Initial Public Offering (IPO), would be exempt from lock-in requirements only if the shares are held by them for a period of at least one year at the time of filing of draft prospectus with SEBI. This would help to ensure that only those VCFs and FCVIs who participate in the company with a long term perspective, are allowed to get the benefit of the exemption from requirement of lock-in as intended by the SEBI (Disclosure and Investor Protection) Guidelines.

 

Necessary amendments to the respective regulation / guidelines are being issued.

 

 

Mumbai

June 26, 2006