The Financial Conduct Authority’s consultation paper (CP 20/3) on climate-related disclosures proposes that a new listing rule will take effect for financial accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2021. There is a growing ground-swell around disclosure of all environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) related matters as issuers and investors become increasingly engaged with these issues. The FCA is not proposing to mandate disclosure at this point given that issuers’ reporting practices are still…

Deal volumes over the past 18 months Looking back at IPO volumes in 2019 compared to 2018, we saw a 51% decrease in the aggregate number of IPOs across both the Main Market and AIM which is perhaps unsurprising given the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and concern stemming from global trade tensions. IPO activity levels since 2015 During the first quarter of 2020, as COVID-19 began to impact, we saw a handful of publicly announced postponements…

The Companies (Shareholders’ Rights to Voting Confirmations) Regulations 2020 (“Regulations”) have been published and are due to come into force on 3 September 2020. The Regulations complete the UK’s transposition of Chapter 1a of EU Directive 2017/828 (amending Directive 2007/36/EC), or more commonly known as the Shareholder Rights Directive. New rule The Regulations apply to “traded companies”, which is defined in section 360C of the Companies Act 2006 (“Act”). Companies which have their shares listed…

Company directors will deal regularly with questions and issues that require some legal input, whether that comes internally or from private practice. Most will be aware that some legal communications attract privilege but less well-understood are the myriad pitfalls that can cause an inadvertent waiver of that legal protection. The post COVID-19 environment sees an ever-increasing volume of work, including board meetings, being carried out remotely by email and telephone or video conference, regulators aggressively…

On 23 April 2020, the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) published an open letter, setting out governance priorities aimed at executive management, board directors and investors, which aims to help companies maintain viability during the COVID-19 outbreak and its aftermath. The ICGN letter advocates that board directors and investors have a “shared interest” and therefore a “shared responsibility” to promote the success of companies in a way that “preserves and enhances long-term value, contributing to…

The Investment Association (IA) has written to the chairs of FTSE 350 companies setting out the position of the IA in relation to certain issues which have arisen due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The letter emphasises the IA’s position as a representative of long-term investors and clarifies the views of its members as regards the need to support businesses which, although impacted by the current situation, remain fundamentally capable of delivering “sustainable long-term value for…

We would like to share with you a post drafted by our colleagues on their Restructuring GlobalView blog. It takes a good look at directors’ duties in these unprecedented times.…