On 18 May 2023, the FCA published the first set of engagement papers on its proposed new regime for public offers and admissions to trading. The publication of the engagement papers follows the FCA’s launch earlier this month of its consultation CP23/10, setting out proposed equity listing rule reforms as part of the Primary Market Effectiveness Review.
The first set of engagement papers covers:
- Admission to trading on a regulated market (Engagement Paper 1), which seeks views on how the FCA should approach setting requirements for issuers seeking to have securities admitted to trading on regulated markets under the new public offers and admissions to trading regime.
- Further issuances of equity on regulated markets (Engagement Paper 2), which asks for feedback on the FCA’s initial thinking about requirements for further issuances of equity securities under the regime.
- Protected forward-looking statements (Engagement Paper 3), which asks for views on how the FCA should define protected forward-looking statements and how this information should be presented in a prospectus.
- Non-equity securities (Engagement Paper 4), which seeks feedback on how the FCA may improve the regime for non-equity securities.
The deadline for written responses to the engagement papers is 29 September 2023. The FCA also plans to gather views through focus groups with key trade associations and other relevant market participants and stakeholders later in 2023.
Feedback on the engagement papers is intended to create a dialogue which will inform further development of proposed rules which the FCA intends to consult on formally during 2024.
