Ronald Kent of NYSE Euronext tells Forbes India that stringent US laws and domestic growth have kept Indian firms from listing on US bourses
Name: Ronald Kent
Title: Executive Vice President and Head of International Listings for NYSE Euronext.
Work Experience: Managing Director with Goldman Sachs, Managing Director with Morgan Stanley, lawyer at New York law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell.
Education: Graduate Oxford University and University of Chicago.
Interest: Running & skiing
Are Indian companies scared of listing on US exchanges because of tighter disclosure norms?
I think it is one of those cases where it’s more a fear of the unknown, fear of the phantom. One of the things, and the US is not ashamed about it at all, and at NYSE we recognise as well, that there is merit and value in having high standards of investor protection and high standards of disclosures. For companies that need to raise substantial amounts of capital it is worthwhile to come to the US. One of the big phantoms is the Sarbanes—Oxley rule (SOX). But one CEO I met in June in the telecom sector told me, ‘we could not have done our most recent M&A transaction if it was not for Sarbanes-Oxley which has made us more nimble’.
(This story appears in the 04 December, 2009 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)