Thailand SEC to Remove Hardcopy Document Requirement for Takeovers

Under the SEC's proposal, investors who make a tender offer for all the securities of a business will no longer have to submit hardcopy documents in the tendering process.

Thailand's SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) is proposing amendments to its takeover regulations to remove a requirement for investors to submit hardcopy documents in the tendering process.

Under existing regulations, investors who make a tender offer for all the securities of a business are required to submit documents online as well as in hardcopy – which the SEC says may cause burden to the private sector.

The SEC is proposing to cancel the requirement to submit hardcopy documents, to increase flexibility for investors making a tender offer to takeover a company. This will support the storage of data in machine-readable format, allowing for faster processing, the SEC says.

A requirement for tender offerors to advertise the offer through a newspaper is also proposed to be removed.

The changes are part of the SEC's 'Regulatory Guillotine' project, which aims to amend laws, rules and regulations to reduce unnecessary costs and improve the ease of doing business in Thailand.