In a bid to address Securities & Exchange Board of India’s chairman CB Bhave’s concern over the unrealistic pricing of initial public offers(IPOs),the Association of Merchant Bankers of India (AMBI) has formed two committees to improve the conditions for retail investors and for revising and updating the code of conduct and ethics.
At its AGM held on last Monday, the board of directors of AMBI approved the formation of those two-member committees.
Confirming the development, Nagendra Bhatnagar, chairman, AMBI, said, ?Following the recent suggestions by SEBI chairman , we have formed those two committees to mange things in a better way. While the purpose of the first committee is to ensure increased retail participation along with investor protection measures in any IPO , the second committee will look towards revising and updating the old code of conduct and ethics.?
Those committees are however yet to chalk out their operational strategy. The committees have just been constituted. It is too early to frame operational strategy, said, Bhatnagar.
The first committee will consists of Rajendra Naik, executive director, Centrum Capital and Sunil Joshi, executive vice president,SBI Capital. The committee for code of conduct and ethics will comprise of Sanjay Sharma, head of equity capital markets from Deutsche Equities and Anay Khare, managing director, corporate finance ? investment banking, Enam Securities.
The code of conduct and ethics was formed by AMBI itself for its member merchant bankers, during early 1990s. It was not revised for a long time. All members are expected to follow the existing codes while underwriting any issue. The revision is primarily aimed at bringing more transparency.
Speaking at a recent merchant banking summit organised by the AMBI, Sebi chairman CB Bhave urged merchant bankers to price issues reasonably.