EUROPE: ESMA publishes regulatory work programme for 2014, including on Takeovers Directive and Transparency Directive

Thursday February 13 2014

The European Securities and Markets Authority has published its regulatory work programme for 2014.

Among others, ESMA has provided information on its action for 2014 in respect of the Takeovers Directive and the Transparency Directive as follows:

• Takeovers Directive – Technical Advice or guidelines derived from the EC Action Plan on Corporate Governance issues and Company Law and revised Shareholder`s Rights Directive – no deadline given, however a consultation will be held.

• Transparency Directive – Regulatory Technical Standards on the following, with a deadline of 27th November 2014 (consultation will be held):

1. cases in which the exemption referred to in Art. 9(4) subparagraph 1 of the Transparency Directive (TD) applies to shares acquired for a short period of time through underwriting;
2. cases in which the exemptions referred to in Art. 13(4) subparagraph 1 apply to financial instruments held by a natural person or a legal entity fulfilling orders received from clients or responding to a client`s requests to trade otherwise than on a proprietary basis, or hedging positions arising out of such dealings;
3. method of calculation of the 5% threshold referred to in Article 9(5) and (6)
4. method to calculate the number of voting rights referred to in Article 13 (1a) subparagraph 1 in case of financial instruments referenced to a basket of shares or an index;
5. methods for determining delta for the purposes of calculating voting rights.

Click on the above link for more details.