ISLAMABAD – The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has sought public input on the proposed amendments to the Companies (Further Issue of Shares) Regulations, 2020.
These amendments focus on streamlining the processes for bonus and right share issuance, significantly reducing timelines by 87% and 72% for bonus and right issue, respectively. This enhancement will improve market efficiency and enable quicker capital mobilisation.
Timelines for the bonus and right share issues are proposed to be reduced to 11 days (from the existing 85 days) and 50 days (from the existing 181 days), respectively.
The draft amendments followed an extensive consultation process with key stakeholders, including PSX, CDC, NCCPL, leading Consultants to Issue, lawyers and financial experts. Initial feedback was collected to identify areas for improvement in the Regulations.
The insights were synthesised into a detailed Consultation Paper titled “Reduction in Timelines for Issuance of Bonus and Right Shares by Listed Companies”, which was published to invite further feedback.
In-person consultations were held, followed by an online session, where the feedback was discussed in depth, ensuring the proposals were refined based on a consensus-driven approach. The SECP has now notified the draft amendments for comments before these become effective.
Additionally, amendments are also proposed to remove the requirement for a company to prepare a draft offer document in the Urdu language and introduce a new requirement to submit additional information along with the right offer document to ensure smooth and efficient processing of the right offer document.
Feedback can be submitted by July 17, 2025. The notification detailing the proposed amendments is available on the SECP website.