UK Secondary Capital Raising Review
Published: 9 April 2024
1 minute read
Learn more about HM Treasury’s review of the capital raising landscape in the UK.
On 12 October 2021, the Treasury appointed Mark Austin as independent chair of the UK Secondary Capital Raising Review, tasked with making recommendation on how further capital raising processes by companies that are already listed could be made more efficient.
Mr. Austin published the outcome of his review on 19 July 2022, making a series of recommendations to the Government, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Pre-Emption Group (PEG). His key recommendations included:
- Protecting the rights of existing shareholders by maintaining and enhancing the UK pre-emption regime.
- Reducing regulatory involvement in fundraisings, including by raising the threshold at which a prospectus should be required for a further issuance, removing the requirement for a sponsor to be appointed by an issuer, and reconsidering the FCA’s approach to working capital statements.
- Making existing fundraising structures quicker and cheaper by making changes to the Companies Act.
- Increasing the range of choice of fundraising structures for companies, including by replicating the key principles and structure of Australian offer processes for smaller fundraisings.
- Establishing the Digitisation Taskforce to drive forward the modernisation of the UK’s shareholding framework.
The Pre-Emption Group released a statement welcoming the recommendations in the Review.
The Statement of Principles was updated on 4 November 2022 to align with the recommendations made in the UK Secondary Capital Raising Review.
| Name | PEG Statement of Principles |
|---|---|
| Publication date | 4 November 2022 |
| Format | PDF, 132.3 KB |