The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has confirmed that the way in which investors submit TR-1 notifications of major shareholdings will change from 22 March 2021. The FCA announced that it would make changes to the submission process in November 2020 (see our corporate update 2020/22). From 22 March 2021, all TR-1 notifications in relation to … Read more

The UK Supreme Court handed down its judgment in a high profile jurisdictional challenge relating to group claims brought against Royal Dutch Shell Plc and its Nigerian subsidiary in connection with alleged pollution in the Niger Delta. The claimants (some 42,500 individuals from the Niger Delta region) brought proceedings in the English courts against Royal … Read more

The Pension Schemes Act 2021 introduces significant reforms of the regulatory regime for defined benefit (DB) pension schemes. The Act introduces new criminal offences and civil sanctions which could be applied to company directors, lenders, investors, sellers, purchasers and advisers who take action which, broadly speaking, is materially detrimental to a DB scheme and where … Read more

In our annual contract law update we consider a number of interesting contract law cases from 2020 which highlighted key points for those involved in drafting or managing contracts. The cases we have chosen deal with formation, variation, interpretation, good faith, force majeure and notice provisions. In each case we give a brief summary of the … Read more

We have launched our first Corporate Governance Snapshot which is available here; this snapchat covers the new mandatory climate-related reporting by UK premium listed companies. Read more

Recent updates to the Corporate Notes blog include a GC100 discussion paper on the current state of annual general meetings, proposals for their reform, and a call for certainty on the validity of virtual-only shareholder meetings. Our other recent post looks at an FCA and FRC statement reminding issuers of the temporary relaxations available in … Read more

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Financial Reporting Council (FRC) have published a joint statement reminding issuers of the temporary relaxations to the usual timeframes for publication of the annual report and accounts in light of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Under the relaxations, issuers have an additional two months to finalise their annual report and accounts (so they … Read more

The GC100, the association of general counsel and company secretaries of FTSE 100 companies, has published a discussion paper on shareholder meetings, titled “Shareholder Meetings – Time for Change?”. The paper reviews the current format of annual general meetings (AGMs). It notes the typically low attendance and participation rates at physical meetings and that very … Read more