FCA publishes proposals to reform the IPO process

The Financial Conduct Authority has published proposals to reform the way that information about UK IPOs is made available to the market. If implemented, these will have a significant impact on UK IPO timetables.

The proposals include:

• re-sequencing the IPO process to allow for the earlier publication of the prospectus or a registration document (a registration document is the business description section of a tripartite prospectus, the other section being the securities note and summary;
• creating conditions to allow non-syndicate ("unconnected") bank analysts access to the issuer's management before syndicate bank ("connected") research is published; and
• restricting analysts from interacting with the issuer's management/its corporate finance advisers while their bank is pitching for a role in the IPO. 

Click here for a more detailed alert on the proposals on the Linklaters Knowledge Portal.