ASIC reports on corporate finance regulation July - Dec 2018
/ASIC has published it’s six-monthly regulatory update on its activities, with its focus revealed for the next six months.
The report goes over ASIC’s concerns and expectations regarding financial information presented in prospectuses, on-market buy-backs and expert valuations.
The Corporations team at ASIC is responsible for regulating the conduct of corporations, focusing on equity fundraising and control transactions. The team assesses applications for relief, including financial reporting, reviews documents lodged with ASIC, and promotes good corporate governance.
From July - December 2018
Fundraising
When it came to fundraising, the top disclosure concerns were that the business model wasn’t fully or adequately disclosed, there were misleading or unclear statements, unclear or insufficient detail in terms of the use of funds, inadequate, insufficiently prominent or not tailored risk disclosures, and insufficient summary, investment overview or key information.
296 original disclosure documents lodged
143 supplementary or replacement disclosure documents lodged
$7.6 billion sought to be raised under offers
$5 billion actually raised under offers seeking over $30 million
17 per cent of fundraisings required additional disclosure
11 interim stop orders were issued
2 final stop orders were issued
70 applications for relief regarding fundraising were received
75 per cent of fundraising relief applications were granted
Mergers and acquisitions
20 transactions were launched via takeover bid
24 control transactions launched via scheme and trust scheme
$18.6 billion total implied value of targets subject to control transactions
25 approvals under item 7, s611
73 applications for relief regarding takeovers
49 per cent of takeover relief applications granted
21 applications for relief regarding substantial holding provisions
37 per cent of substantial holding relief applications granted
Other corporate governance transactions
160 notices of meeting with related party benefits
49 s218 applications to reduce lodgement period
17 requests for no-action letters regarding financial reporting
2 requests for no-action granted
138 applications for relief regarding financial reporting
76 per cent of financial reporting relief applications granted
$146 billion of share buy-backs undertaken by 113 companies
