The Government has also laid the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill in Parliament today. In order to avoid leaving gaps in the UK legal system when the UK withdrew from the EU, the body of EU law in force at the end of 2020 was imported into UK law, and the UK legislation … Read more

The Government has laid the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (ECCT Bill) in Parliament which contains, among other things, draft amendments to the Companies Act 2006 to facilitate the reform of Companies House. The ECCT Bill follows an initial consultation in 2019, three follow-up consultations in 2020 and the white paper containing the Government’s … Read more

This edition examines record breaking $123 billion worth of transactions involving Australian targets listed on the ASX that were conducted by way of takeover bid or scheme of arrangement in the 2022 financial year. Read more

Recent additions to our Corporate Notes blog include a look at FCA enforcement action against a non-executive Chair for unlawful disclosure of inside information, a summary of the FRC Lab reports on ESG data production and disclosure of digital security risks as well as our guide to tax in M&A in the UK and Europe. Read more

In August, the FRC Lab published two reports: Improving ESG data production – This report considers the current landscape and challenges for the production of ESG data and sets out actions that companies could take to improve how this data is collected. It is built around three elements – what motivates companies to collate ESG … Read more

By Antony Crockett, Mark Smyth, Timothy Stutt, Jacqueline Wootton, Barry Wang, Rukaiyah Abdullah and Jane Wang On 22 August 2022, the Australian Government released an issues paper on the effectiveness of the first three years of the Modern Slavery Act 2018 for public consultation. Read more

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Sir Christopher Gent (SCG), the former non-executive Chair of ConvaTec Group Plc, £80,000 for unlawfully disclosing inside information in breach of Article 14(c) of the (then) EU Market Abuse Regulation. The fine follows a warning notice issued to SCG in September 2021 by the FCA proposing to take action against him – … Read more

We have published the 2022 edition of the ‘Tax in M&A in the UK and Europe’ guide produced by Herbert Smith Freehills and other contributors (see the Contributors list for full details). The guide can be accessed here. The Tax in M&A guide accompanies the 2021 edition of our ‘Regulation of Public M&A in the … Read more