Italian Securities Commission returns to ordinary reporting requirements for listed issuers. By Antonio Coletti, Isabella Porchia, Guido Bartolomei, and Marta Negro The Italian Securities Commission (CONSOB), by press release dated April 12, 2021, announced its decision to end the more stringent reporting requirements originally introduced on April 9, 2020, as a response to the impact … Continue Reading
By Rob Moulton, Nicola Higgs, Anne Mainwaring, Becky Critchley, and Anna Lewis-Martinez The latest edition of our Private Bank Briefing provides a roundup of legal and compliance issues impacting private banks and their clients from Q1 2021. In this edition, we cover some of the key regulatory announcements relating to MiFID II and the impact … Continue Reading
The recommended reforms aim to make the UK’s listing regime more competitive while maintaining high standards of corporate governance, shareholder rights, and transparency. By Chris Horton, James Inness, and Anna Ngo A new independent review (the Review), led by Lord Hill, has been released that provides recommendations on how the UK can improve its listings … Continue Reading
More stringent reporting obligations regarding relevant shareholdings and investment objectives for Italian-listed issuers will continue until 13 April 2021. By Antonio Coletti, Guido Bartolomei, Marta Negro, and Isabella Porchia On 13 January 2021, the Italian Securities Commission (CONSOB) adopted Resolution 21672 (the Resolution), further extending for three months the more stringent reporting requirements for relevant … Continue Reading
Court of Appeal sets out correct approach to transfer of long-term Insurance. By Victoria Sander, Jon Holland, Alex Cox, and Duncan Graves Latham & Watkins has won an appeal on behalf of Rothesay Life Plc (Rothesay) in an unprecedented challenge to the High Court’s refusal to sanction the transfer of around 370,000 annuity policies in … Continue Reading
The more stringent reporting obligations for certain Italian-listed issuers will continue until January 13, 2021. By Antonio Coletti, Isabella Porchia, Guido Bartolomei, and Marta Negro The Italian Securities Commission (CONSOB) has adopted Resolution 21525, extending for a period of three months — from October 13, 2020, to January 13, 2021 — the provisions of Resolutions … Continue Reading
The Simplification Decree (Decreto Semplificazioni) follows and puts into effect the earlier attempt of the Italian cabinet to facilitate capital increases. By Antonio Coletti, Isabella Porchia, and Marta Negro Law no. 120/2020 converting Law Decree no. 76/2020 (Decreto Semplificazioni), which entered into force today (Law no. 120/2020), introduces certain measures (see Article 44) facilitating capital … Continue Reading
For the retail and consumer product sector, the high yield market will likely remain an attractive source of capital. By Roberto L. Reyes Gaskin and Laurie Tomassian The retail and consumer products sector has been deeply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, both due to physical constraints on brick-and-mortar stores and supply chains, and acceleration of … Continue Reading
The more stringent reporting obligations for certain Italian listed issuers will continue until October 12, 2020. By Antonio Coletti, Isabella Porchia, and Marta Negro The Italian Securities Commission (CONSOB) has adopted Resolution 21434, extending for a period of three months — from July 12, 2020, to October 12, 2020 — the provisions of Resolutions 21326 … Continue Reading
Parties within a chain of transactions may face liability for dishonesty and assistance, even if they do not have actual knowledge of fraud. By Stuart Alford QC and Yasmina Vaziri The recent judgment in Bilta (UK) Limited (in liquidation) & ors v. NatWest Markets plc & Anor [2020] EWHC 546 (Ch) provides a timely illustration … Continue Reading
BEIS and FRC released further updates on how companies can hold meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic. By James Inness, Anna Ngo, and Connor Cahalane On 14 May 2020, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) released a second Q&A in relation to proposed legislative measures to assist … Continue Reading
The Recovery Decree allows Italian companies with equity listed on regulated markets to issue multiple voting shares to enhance competition with foreign countries and protect the Italian markets. By Antonio Coletti, Isabella Porchia, and Guido Bartolomei The Recovery Decree dated May 13, 2020, introduced the ability for Italian listed companies to issue multiple voting shares … Continue Reading
The Recovery Decree aims to rapidly raise equity financing and counter liquidity shortage. By Antonio Coletti, Isabella Porchia, and Guido Bartolomei Law Decree, approved on 13 May 2020 (Recovery Decree) introduces provisions facilitating capital increases by Italian private and listed companies to rapidly raise equity financing and to counter liquidity shortage. In particular, article 45-bis … Continue Reading
Boards of struggling companies (and their auditors) must navigate choppy waters in terms of finalising their audited accounts in the midst of a global downturn. By James Chesterman, Dominic Newcomb, Helena Potts, and David Cooper-Parry The global downturn triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose challenges to significant swathes of the worldwide economy. Companies … Continue Reading
The revised Market Practice reflects the remarks raised by ESMA after a public consultation process. By Antonio Coletti, Marco Bonasso, and Isabella Porchia Article 13 of MAR provides for an exemption from sanctions in case a transaction breaches the general prohibition of market manipulation for transactions carried out for legitimate reasons and in line with … Continue Reading
The Liquidity Decree strengthens CONSOB’s powers to impose stricter reporting requirements of relevant shareholdings in Italian-listed issuers. By Antonio Coletti and Isabella Porchia The Italian government has adopted Law Decree n. 23/2020 (the Liquidity Decree), in force form 9 April 2020, providing urgent measures supporting access to liquidity and financings for Italian companies facing challenges during … Continue Reading
To raise new debt at a time of low liquidity, leveraged and other sub investment grade companies must navigate restrictions in loan and bond documents. By James Chesterman, Helena Potts, James P. Burnett, and Karan Chopra Many companies are seeking funding to survive the currently unquantifiable impact of COVID-19. This blog post will consider issues … Continue Reading
UK regulators announce a further package of measures to ease the burden on issuers. By Chris Horton, James Inness, Rob Moulton, Koushik Prasad, Connor Cahalane, and Charlotte Collins In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, UK regulators have published further measures affecting issuers, to try to preserve the flow of information to investors and support the … Continue Reading
CONSOB and Bank of Italy ease compliance obligations during COVID-19. By Antonio Coletti, Marco Bonasso, and Isabella Porchia The Italian Securities Commission (CONSOB) and the Bank of Italy have adopted a series of measures to grant intermediaries and online portal managers an extended deadline to comply with their disclosure obligations, and facilitated compliance activities by … Continue Reading
Material adverse change provisions in credit agreements are under much heightened scrutiny in the current circumstances. By James Chesterman and Helena Potts In the current environment, both corporates and their lenders are trying to assess a fast-moving situation. Businesses are suspending operations, countries are limiting travel and non-essential activities, events are being cancelled and consumers … Continue Reading
Following the publication of the Finance Bill 2020 the UK government is pressing ahead with the introduction of the Digital Services Tax from 1 April 2020. By Sean Finn, Karl Mah, Aaron Bradley, and Amy F. Watkins From 1 April 2020 the UK government is introducing a new tax in the form of the Digital … Continue Reading
Italian regulator imposes more stringent reporting obligations for certain Italian-listed issuers. By Antonio Coletti and Isabella Porchia The Italian Securities Commission (CONSOB) has adopted Resolution 21304, imposing stricter reporting obligations of relevant shareholdings in Italian-listed issuers included in the Annex to the Resolution. The entry threshold of relevant shareholding to be reported, according to Italian … Continue Reading
UK government unveils a raft of spending measures amid national and global uncertainty. By Karl Mah After a somewhat turbulent period that saw the cancellation of the Autumn 2019 Budget due to lingering Brexit uncertainty, the resignation of the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the outbreak of COVID-19, it was unsurprising that the UK … Continue Reading
A Call for Input reveals that the FCA is planning for a post-EU future and examining ethics with regard to MAR. By Rob Moulton On 9 March 2020, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a Call for Input on the way that wholesale market participants access and use data in the UK. A Call for … Continue Reading
