Standards & Guidance
FSA consults further on listing rules
The Financial Services
Authority (FSA) looks set to allow hedge funds to take up London listings
under a light-touch regulatory regime.
The regulator has announced
plans
to allow less strictly governed secondary listings for investment entities,
which FSA director of markets Sally Dewar said would allow companies greater
flexibility over their investment strategies while maintaining investor
protections. Consultation on the plans runs until the end of February.
Though the FSA’s attempts to help hedge funds and
private equity funds gain London listings have become something of a mess, the
regulator’s approach is probably the right one, argued FT’s Lombard (9/10
December). The FSA is proposing to allow overseas funds to take secondary, as
well as primary, listings in London – which to many means lower standards of
disclosure and exposure to something like a split capital investment trust, said
Lombard.
However, Lombard added, retaining two listing options
provides choice, and the market should price in the greater risks that come with
the lower standards of funds with a secondary listing. It is unfortunate, said
Lombard, that the FSA has not helped matters by giving out contradictory
statements and creating uncertainty.
Links
CP06/21: Investment Entities Listing Review - Further Consultation and Feedback
on Part 2 of CP06/4
January, 2007 |
