Further clarity provided on changes to the UK's listing regime and new sourcebook

The Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA") set out proposals to reform its current Listing Rules sourcebook ("LR") in its consultation paper published in May 2023 (CP23/10), and subsequent consultation paper (CP23/31) reporting on feedback received. Fieldfisher published an article on 22 January 2024, written by Adam Jones, with an overview of the proposals set out in CP23/31 (Consultation proposes far-reaching revamp of UK Listing Rules | Fieldfisher).

The first tranche of rules, which will be set out in a completely new 'UK Listing Rules' sourcebook (UKLR), focusses on a new "commercial companies" category and sponsor regime (First Tranche).

The second tranche focussing on other listing categories and the remaining provisions impacting all issuers was published on 7 March 2024 (Second Tranche). The consultation periods for the First Tranche and the Second Tranche have now passed, with the latter closing on 2 April 2024.

In summary, the broad aims of these proposals are to encourage a more diverse range of companies to list and grow on UK markets and to promote more investment opportunities for investors. This has been balanced with the need to maintain the FCA's approach to disclosure requirements for listed companies to ensure market integrity and investor confidence. The proposed changes seek to simplify the listing regime with a single listing category by removing the current 'premium' and 'standard' listing segments and designing a new 'commercial companies' category for equity share listings.

Dana Eyre shares an Overview of Reform Proposals,  areas covered by the Second Tranche in the draft UKLR instrument, sponsor rules, new categories and implementation. Download the full article.