Private Placement of securities under Companies Act 2013

A private placement is a capital raising event that involves the sale of securities to a relatively small number of select investors.

A private placement is different from a public issue in which securities are made available for sale on the open market to any type of investor.

As per the definition under Explanation II to Sub Section 1 of Section 42 of the Companies Act, 2013 Private Placement means any offer of securities or invitation to subscribe securities to a select group of persons by a Company ( other than by way of public offer) through issue of a private placement offer letter and which satisfies the conditions specified in this section.

Private Placement is governed by Section 42 of the Companies Act, 2013. As per Section 42 of the Companies Act, 2013 the maximum number of persons to which allotment can be done in a year shall not exceed 200( Excluding Qualified Institutional Buyers and Employees who have been given securities under ESOP Scheme) in a financial year. If the same exceeds the prescribed limit then in will be deemed to be a public issue and the Company has to follow the procedure of Public issue. As per the present scenario, if a Company, listed or unlisted, makes an offer of Securities to more than 200 persons during a year, whether it receives money or not, to any person whether in India or abroad and intends to get its Securities listed on a recognized stock exchange whether in India or abroad, shall be deemed to be a Public issue and the Company has to Comply with the provisions of Public issue.

Procedure

1. Company planning to make Private Placement has to first pass a special resolution in the general meeting of the Company.

However, in case of Non Convertible Debentures(NCD) it will be sufficient if the Company passes a special resolution once in a year for all the Private Placements to be made by the for the NCD during the year.[Rule 14(2)].

2. Next, the Company has to issue a Private Placement letter of offer to the Identified persons by the Board to whom the allotment is to be made. [ Companies Amendment Act, 2017].

However, it is to be noted that the Private Placement letter of offer shall not contain Right to Renunciation.[ Companies Amendment Act, 2017].

The Company also has to keep the records of the same and file the details with the ROC within 30 days from the date of issue of Private Placement letter of offer.[Rule 14(3)].

3. Once the Company receives the allotment money, the Company shall allot the Securities within 60 days and if it fails to do so then refund the money within the next 15 days. If the Company fails to do so then interest @12% will be charged from the expiry of 60th day.

4. The Company has to file return of allotment within 15 days of allotment in Form PAS-3 .Companycannot utilize the Application money until it has filed Return of allotment with the ROC[ Companies Amendment Act, 2017].

Following points are to be noted

1. The Application money to be received shall be either through Cheque, Demand Draft or other banking channels except cash. [Section 42(5)]

2. The minimum application size shall not be less than Rupees Twenty Thousand per person.

3. Private Placement shall not be done unless any previous offer or invitation has been completed or withdrawn or abandoned by the Company. [Section 42(3)].

4. The Company shall not advertise about the Private Placement to the public.

5. If a Company makes contravenes the provisions of this Section, then the Company, Promoters and its Directors shall be liable for a penalty which may extend to the amount involved in the contravention or rupees two crores, whichever is higher. Further the Company also has to refund all monies to subscribers within 30 days of the order.

6. Restriction of 200 is for each kind of a Security [explanation to Rule 14(2)(b)].