AUSTRALIA: ASIC consultation on amending Australia takeover guidance on “relevant interests” in Australia

Wednesday November 14 2012

The ASIC has released a consultation paper proposing to update and consolidate its Australia takeover regulatory guidance.

ASIC proposes to consolidate 17 existing regulatory guides, which represents the bulk of its policies covering Chapters 6–6C of the Corporations Act 2001 (which deal with takeovers) into 4 new guides covering topics including takeover bids, substantial holdings, and compulsory acquisition and buy-outs. ASIC has also proposed to reissue the class orders discussed in the draft guidance.

The proposed new regulatory guide on relevant interests and substantial holding notices includes updated guidance on the relevant interest concept.
In connection with the update of the guidance, ASIC proposes to alter class order modifications of s609(1) and (3) to take into account legislative changes and developments in the market. The draft guide also incorporates further guidance on completing substantial holding notices.

Note that on 5 October 2012 the Department of the Treasury released a scoping paper in relation to a number of issues regarding the Australia takeover provisions raised by ASIC. The consultation process being conducted by Treasury on these issues is separate and independent from the consultation process outlined in this paper which is focused on updating and consolidating ASIC’s guidance and class orders.

Click on the above link for more details.