Jeremy Cooper
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has moved to clarify the status of retail investors with respect to non-traditional rights issues.
The regulator announced this week that, consistent with an anomaly identified by its Retail Investor Taskforce, it had given class order relief ensuring that non-traditional rights issue structures were covered by the prospectus and Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) exemptions for rights issues.
Commenting on the move, ASIC deputy chairman Jeremy Cooper said the aim of the disclosure exemption was to encourage companies to use pro rata rights issues rather than placements, so that retail investors could participate.
He said the regulator considered that any rights issue should fall within the disclosure exemption where it provided an equal opportunity to all holders to participate and did not compromise retail investor protection.
