SEBI, vide circular dated May 24, 2024, has permitted the salient disclosures made in the Draft Red Herring Prospectus, Red Herring Prospects and Price Band Advertisement for public issues, to be made available in AV format for ease in understanding the features of public issues. Such AV format must be prepared and placed in the public domain for all main board public issues. The same will initially be in bilingual format i.e. English and Hindi. The contents of the AV must be as per the prescribed guidelines, such as:
- the duration of each bilingual version of the AV must be approximately 10 (ten) minutes;
- the total duration of the AV must be equitably distributed to cover material disclosures made under various sections of the Draft Red Herring Prospectus and Red Herring Prospects viz. about the company, risk factors, capital structure, objects of the offer, business of the issuer, promoters, management, summary of financial information, litigations, material developments and terms of the offer; and
- the content of the AV must be factual, non-repetitive, non-promotional and must not be misleading in any manner.
The provisions of the circular are applicable on voluntary basis by July 1, 2024, and become mandatory requirement from October 1, 2024.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.