Minter Ellison's popular report on the fundamentals of doing business in Australia.
With a significant presence throughout Australasia, Hong Kong and London, our equity capital markets team is at the forefront of the capital markets in the Asia Pacific and globally. Our team is highly respected, having been involved in innovative and leading transactions, acting for issuers on initial public offerings (IPOs), secondary market capital raisings, and for underwriters and lead managers on underwritings and offer structuring. We have advised on some of the best known equity capital markets transactions in Australasia. Our experience and expertise includes listings on ASX, HKSE, LSE and AIM, global and domestic IPOs (including dual track processes and exits by private equity investors), entitlement offers, rights issues, placements and other secondary offers, secondary sales and block trades, share purchase plans, dividend reinvestment plans, as well as convertible and exchangeable notes and bonds and hybrid debt/equity securities. Through our substantial transaction experience involving multiple jurisdictions, we have developed a reputation for ensuring compliance with applicable foreign securities law requirements.
On 13 December 2011, the Commonwealth Treasury released a discussion paper on proposals to enhance the depth and liquidity of the corporate bond market in Australia. The proposed reforms would reduce the current disclosure and liability burden for issuers but retain key investor safeguards.
On 10 November 2011, ASIC issued Regulatory Guide 228: Prospectuses: Effective disclosure for retail investors (RG 228) to addresses previous issues with prospectus disclosure, especially the need to provide retail investors with relevant information in a form that can be readily understood. This Alert highlights the key elements of RG 228.