Primary multilateral trading facilities – Engagement Paper 6

Engagement paper published
13/07/2023
Closing date for responses
29/09/2023
29/09/2023

We are asking for your feedback on our initial thinking about future rules for multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) under the new public offers and admission to trading regime.

Read Engagement Paper 6

Why we are publishing this paper

The regime will create a new type of MTF admission document known as an 'MTF admission prospectus', which will be subject to the same statutory liability and compensation scheme as regulated market prospectuses.

Under the new regime, we will have the power to make certain MTFs operating as primary markets (Primary MTFs) require the production of an MTF admission prospectus in specified circumstances.

This paper sets out our initial considerations on:

  • the circumstances in which Primary MTFs should require the publication of an MTF admission prospectus
  • who should be responsible for such a document
  • the circumstances in which a supplementary prospectus should be required
  • how and when withdrawal rights should be exercised
  • the requirements for advertisements related to securities being admitted to trading on a Primary MTF

When designing our rules for Primary MTFs, we will explore how regulatory changes can promote broader investor participation and improve the quality of information that investors receive.

Where possible, we intend to preserve the existing regulatory model in which Primary MTF operators set their own requirements.

This engagement paper is part of a series of papers setting out our emerging policy thinking on how we may use our rule-making powers under the new regime.

Who is this of interest to

  • Operators of Primary MTFs.
  • Companies that are issuers or prospective issuers on Primary MTFs.
  • Existing and prospective investors in issuers with securities admitted to trading on Primary MTFs.
  • Law firms, investment banks and other advisers who may assist issuers on Primary MTFs.
  • Intermediaries who may facilitate trading on Primary MTFs and/or marketing for issuers on those markets.
  • Accountancy firms and those providing support services to issuers in preparing regulatory disclosures.
  • Wider financial market participants such as research analysts that specialise in securities admitted to ’growth markets’.
  • Trade associations representing the various market participants above.

Next steps

We welcome written responses by email to the questions raised by the engagement paper by 29 September 2023. 

Please email: [email protected]

We plan to also gather views through focus groups with key trade associations and other relevant market participants and stakeholders later this year.

Feedback on this paper, and the other papers in the series, is intended to create a dialogue which will inform further development of proposed rules which we will consult on formally during 2024.