CESR recommends amending the prospectus regulation
11 Jul 2005
The Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) has published a consultation paper that sets out recommendations for a possible amendment of the Commission's Prospectus Regulation regarding historical financial information that must be included in a prospectus.
The Prospectus Regulation, which came into effect on 1 July 2005, requires (among other things) three years' audited historical information for the issuer as a whole. Sometimes, however, the issuer has not prepared its historical financial information as a single business during the whole of the three-year period, for example, because:
- the issuer is a newly incorporated holding company inserted over an established business;
- the issuer consists of companies that were under common control or ownership but that never formed a legal group;
- the issuer has made a significant acquisition (representing more than 25% of the group) during the three-year historical period;
- the issuer has disposed of a significant part of its business since the last audited accounts;
- the issuer has changed the end of its financial year during the three year period.