With a view to boosting its public markets, Australian regulators are easing the constraints on marketing initial public offerings (IPOs).
On Tuesday, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) issued a set of proposed rule changes that would give companies that are planning to list publicly more flexibility to publicize forthcoming flotations.
The ASIC said that its proposals aim to modernize the pre-filing advertising rules to align with the rules in other major markets, and with other capital-raising regimes, such as the equity crowdfunding rules.
Among other things, the proposals aims to help companies gauge market interest, improve the quality of information available to investors and alert regulators to pending IPOs.
“These proposals strike the right balance between supporting capital raising in our public markets and protecting investors,” said ASIC commissioner Simone Constant, in a release.
“They narrow an unnecessary part of the gap between capital raising rules in public and private markets, giving companies more flexibility in communicating with investors and the market,” she added. “At the same time, they maintain robust safeguards and reinforce the central role of the prospectus as a key disclosure document.”
The deadline for the consultation is Sept. 11.