Brussels, 13/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 13 July, the European Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee (ECON) endorsed its negotiating position on the draft European Commission regulation amending the rules on the prospectus that must be published by European companies wishing to raise capital to provide information for potential investors. The Council has also adopted its negotiating position (EUROPE 11569), which means that interinstitutional negotiations can begin once the EP's approach has been endorsed by plenary and the plenary adopts a negotiating mandate.
Rapporteur Petr Jezek (ALDE, the Czech Republic) was keen to remain close to the approach begun by his predecessor, Philippe De Backer (Belgium), who has left the EP to join the Belgian government. Jezek commented upon the report voted upon by ECON, “In addition, there are new incentives for smaller companies to issue securities for sale, as they will have the opportunity to produce a reduced version of a prospectus, called the 'EU growth prospectus'.” This more relaxed regime will apply to issuers where the offer of securities to the public is of a total consideration that does not exceed €20 million in the EU calculated over a period of 12 months. The report leaves it to member states' discretion whether to exempt the emission of securities of below €5 million. The Council's negotiating position is described in EUROPE 11569. (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)