Essential Corporate News: Week ending September 18, 2020

ICGN: Shareholder Meetings and Investor Dialogue: The New Normal

In September 2020, the International Corporate Governance Network (IGGN) published a “Viewpoint” document to provide insight and guidance on what annual general meetings (AGMs) and other shareholder meetings might look like in future, following major changes enabled by emergency legislation in many jurisdictions in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Viewpoint seeks to explore the impact of such changes on shareholder rights and to identify basic “ground rules” that should be in place to protect fundamental shareholder rights. It also seeks to serve as guidance to steer and stimulate discussions in individual markets between investors, companies and regulators.

Topics covered by the Viewpoint are:

• Future format of AGMs
• Physical shareholder meetings
• Virtual shareholder meetings
• Hybrid shareholder meetings – an optimal solution?
• Key features of high-quality virtual shareholder meeting environment
• Impact on shareholder meetings and investor dialogue.

(ICGN: Shareholder Meetings and Investor Dialogue: The New Normal, 09.2020)

European Commission: Commission delegated regulations published

On September 14, 2020, the Commission delegated regulation to amend and correct the Prospectus Delegated Regulation was published in the Official Journal. This will enter into force on September 17,  2020, save that Article 1(1) to (8) (amendments to Articles 2, 4, 12, 13, 24, 25, 28 and 30) and Article 2 (corrections to Article 33 and 42(2)(g)) apply retrospectively, with effect from July 21,  2019.

On the same day, the Commission delegated regulation to amend and correct the Prospectus RTS Regulation was also published in the Official Journal. This will come into force on September  17, 2020. Its provisions will apply retrospectively, with effect from July 21, 2019, apart from the insertion of new Article 22a (relating to summaries of prospectuses approved between July 21, 2019 and September 16, 2020 for non-financial entities issuing equity securities), which applies from September 17, 2020.

(European Commission, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/1273 amending and correcting Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/980 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards to the format, content, scrutiny and approval of the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market, 14.09.2020)

(European Commission, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/1272 amending and correcting Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/979 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards to regulatory technical standards on key financial information in the summary of a prospectus, the publication and classification of prospectuses, advertisements for securities, supplements to a prospectus, and the notification portal, 14.09.2020)