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Consultation has recently closed on an Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) discussion paper proposing a policy framework to revitalise New Zealand’s capital markets, both generally and across eight specific areas where regulatory change may be appropriate.
Chapman Tripp’s submission to MBIE is available here.
We support the direction of most of MBIE’s proposals, but consider that several should go further. To make New Zealand’s public markets more accessible and competitive, we also think fundamental reform is needed across a broader set of interconnected settings, including taxation, liability settings, disclosure, class actions, statutory defences, and issuance costs.
NZX also consulted on proposals to introduce more flexible listing rules better suited to small to medium-sized issuers, including changes relating to board composition, annual reporting, and capital raising thresholds.
Chapman Tripp’s submission to NZX is available here.
We support NZX’s efforts to improve the settings for small to mid-sized issuers, although we consider that many of the proposed changes – including reducing the free float admission requirement from 20% to 10% – should apply to all NZX equity issuers.
For more information, contact our experts.
