Sebi to introduce disclosure norms for securitisation deals
Mumbai: The country’s market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), is said to be coming out with disclosure norms for issuers of securitised products. A committee, under the chairmanship of Mr. J. R. Verma, is said to have already been formed and this is due to meet soon to discuss the proposed norms.

The committee will look at how to regulate the securitisation market, with the primary concern being the disclosures to be made by issuers of such products. The committee proposes to make it mandatory for issuers of securitisation products to furnish disclosures at entry point through offer documents and also through continuous disclosure at regular intervals.

Sebi is said to be keen on putting the onus on the issuer to give information on the pool of underlying assets for the benefit of investors as there is no point in asking for information about the special purpose vehicle, which is issuing the securitised products. Sebi is planning to enforce the norms through the mutual fund route or through the listing agreement route.

Sebi may permit mutual funds to invest only in those securitisation programmes where the issuer is following its disclosure guidelines. Sebi believes that enforcement will not be an issue because the major players in this segment are the institutional investors, including banks and financial institutions.
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Janus sounds warning bells to Dalal Street operators
Mumbai: After taking on the Wall Street and major European bourses, the Janus Fund -- one of America's fastest growing fund managers -- with $200 billion assets under its management, is calling the shots in Mumbai’s Dalal Street.

It is understood from market sources, that about 75 per cent of the total foreign portfolio investments since January can be attributed to Janus’ operations. Janus, which operates in India through Morgan Stanley’s brokerage arm, is said to account for nearly 10 per cent of total FII investments of $11.69 billion.

Senior sources confirm that the Janus fund has invested around Rs 4,800 crore ($1.1 billion) between January and September. Compared with this, 50 other active foreign funds operating out of the US, the UK, Hong Kong and Singapore accounted for just 25 per cent of foreign inflows in 2000.

Janus’s criteria for buying include the company having a dominant franchise, an exceptional management and the ability to forecast earnings, while the `sell’ call is guided by factors like price targets being met, deteriorating company fundamentals or price earnings ratio exceeding estimated growth rate.
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