The Financial Conduct Authority is seeking further views on the structure of the UK listing regime. In March 2021 the Government published the outcome of the Review of the UK listing regime undertaken by Lord Hill.

On 2 December 2021, the FCA published Policy Statement PS21/22 which sets out a series of changes to the Listing Rules to remove barriers to listing in London. The changes seek to reduce barriers to companies listing in the UK and encourage private companies to consider listing at an earlier stage, while still retaining high standards for investors.

To be eligible, it was previously a requirement - under EU State aid law – that businesses could demonstrate that they were not an ‘undertaking in difficulty’ as at 31 December 2019. The new guidance permits the assessment to be determined at the date of application for the schemes.

A swathe of legislation and regulations has been introduced in recent months by the UK government with the intention of mitigating the effects of Covid-19 pandemic on the country’s businesses and relaxing the regulatory and administrative burden on companies.

For most founders the early stages of business are “bootstrapped” - funded by friends and family, reinvested profits, salary sacrifice, personal credit cards, mortgages and the like. There are essentially two forms of funding for any business – debt (loans) and equity (shares in your company) — so what are the things a business needs to look out for when seeking equity investment?

In our latest review we reflect on some notable developments and trends in UK corporate and commercial law.

The UK government has been exploring a programme of wide-ranging reforms to the listing regime since 2020. This was driven in part by market feedback indicating that the UK listing regime was regarded as overly burdensome and deterring companies from listing in the UK.

In the second part of our year end recap, we reflect on some of the more notable developments of the past 12 months in the areas of Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Governance and Business Crime.

The corporate finance regulatory framework is experiencing seismic shifts as the UK government looks to implement change necessitated or facilitated by Brexit and to maintain and enhance the UK’s position in the global financial marketplace. As we approach the year end, we recap on the status of some of the key changes and developments in the UK’s corporate sector over the past 12 months. 

As we enter a new year, environmental and social responsibility becomes an ever brighter light on the radar of business. A series of diverse drivers have converged to ensure that ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) has become or is fast becoming a top priority for businesses across the globe.

Our Capital Markets Briefing covers the FCA Task Force on climate-related financial disclosures, the UK Secondary Capital Raising Review, the UK Prospectus regime review and the FCA confirming that it will be extending to standard listed companies the obligation to make climate related disclosures.

In our latest briefing, we look at warranty disclosures following the recent Court of Appeal ruling in Butcher v Pike [2021] along with warranty claims and interpretation of financial caps following the High Court decision where a claim for breach of warranties in a share purchase agreement was considered.

On 15 November 2021, the government published new National Security and Investment Act 2021 (NSIA 2021) guidance on notifiable acquisitions and updated guidance on what to expect when an acquisition is being reviewed and assessed.

Following the UK’s departure from the EU on 31 January 2020 the UK-EU Withdrawal Act (EUWA) provided for a transition period (which ended on 31st December 2020) during which the UK’s listing regime remained unchanged.

A year and more on from the UK’s first lockdown, business continues to adapt to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we move into the second half of 2021 this update reviews briefly the prospects and challenges for the sector.