Welcome to the latest edition of Bird & Bird’s PLC Update, a regular publication that covers the latest news and trends in the Equity Capital Markets sector.
We hope that you will enjoy and benefit from our insight. Feel free to contact us if you need any help or guidance.
We begin 2024 looking back at some of the international capital markets deals our teams around the world were grateful to work on over 2023. 2023 was a very tough year across the international markets, so we are very proud to have completed such a number and variety of exciting transactions.
View our International Capital Markets 2023 Deal Round Up here
The UK government consulted on changes to the FPO exemptions for certain types of individual investors who can receive financial promotions without approval by an authorised person. The consultation response in November 2023 outlined the key changes for certified high net worth individuals and self-certified sophisticated investors. In this article we outline those changes. The final rules are expected to come into effect on 31 January 2024.
On 20 December 2023, the FCA published its proposals on the new Listing Rules regime in CP23/31, which aim to relax the rules and make London’s capital markets more attractive to international companies. The proposals are based on the feedback from the previous consultation in 2023, but with some modifications from the original CP23/10 proposals, and including some important proposals for dual listed companies. In this article, we look at what has changed since the initial consultation proposals, at the key proposed changes and at the anticipated timeline for implementation.
The QCA Code consists of principles, rules and responsibilities that guide small and medium sized public companies to achieve good governance. The Code was revised in November 2023 to meet changing investor and public expectations around governance. In this article we describe the main changes to the 2023 Code.