Corporate Update Bulletin - 19 September 2024

Welcome to the latest edition of Corporate Update, our fortnightly bulletin offering a five-minute read of the latest developments which we consider relevant to corporate counsel. Please get in touch with your usual contact if you want to explore any of the topics covered in more detail. If you would like to subscribe to this bulletin as a regular email, please click here.

In this issue:

• News
• Legislation
• Publications

NEWS

LSE publishes 2025 Dividend Procedure Timetable

On 13 September 2024, the London Stock Exchange published its 2025 Dividend Procedure Timetable. The Procedure Timetable serves as a guide for UK-listed companies (including AIM companies) on setting their interim and final dividend programmes.

Government publishes implementation timeline for Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024

The government has issued a written statement with regard to its plans for implementing the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. The Act received Royal Assent on 24 May 2024 and creates a new digital markets regime aimed at increasing competition in that sphere and contains wide-ranging reforms to strengthen UK competition and consumer protection law. The expected timeline includes the following:

• The government aims to commence Parts 1 (the digital markets regime), 2 (amendments to the wider competition regime and enhancement of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) powers, including changes to merger control thresholds) and 5 (miscellaneous measures) of the Act in December 2024 or January 2025. The CMA is expected to launch the first Strategic Market Status (SMS) investigations to assess which firms should be designated as having SMS (with the CMA only able to impose interventions on firms designated as having SMS in respect of a digital activity) shortly after commencement of Part 1.
• In April 2025, the government expects to commence Part 3 of the Act, which provides for the consumer enforcement regimes, and Part 4, Chapter 1 of the Act, which replaces the unfair trading regulations. Secondary legislation will set out rules for the CMA’s new direct enforcement powers, alongside guidance on these new powers.

European Commission publishes report on Capital Markets Union and Banking Union

On 9 September 2024, the European Commission published a report on the future of European competitiveness which includes recommendations in relation to the Banking Union and Capital Markets Union, in two parts: Part A (a competitiveness strategy for Europe) and Part B (in-depth analysis and recommendations). Among other things, the Commission recommends:

• the introduction of a European Securities Exchange Commission as the single common regulator for all EU security markets.
• the creation of a pan-European multi-location stock market reducing regulatory complexity for initial public offerings (IPOs) and for companies going public, harmonising the rules across EU markets and aligning the rules with non-EU markets.
• the creation of a single central clearing party and a single central securities depository for all security trades.

Government publishes annual report on the National Security and Investment Act

The government has published its third annual report on the operation of the National Security and Investment Act. For the first time, the report includes year-on-year comparisons with the previous reporting period and an accompanying spreadsheet containing all data published since the commencement of the Act.

LEGISLATION

Property (Digital Assets etc) Bill published

On 12 September 2024, the Property (Digital Assets etc) Bill was published along with explanatory notes and further information. The Bill gives effect to the Law Commission’s recommendation to provide statutory confirmation that a thing may be capable of attracting property rights even if does not fit into either of the two categories of personal property that have traditionally been recognised under English law, that is, things in possession (generally, tangible things) and things in action (personal property that can only be claimed or enforced through a court action). This is relevant to certain digital assets (such as crypto-assets) which the Law Commission concluded are things to which property rights relate, noting the trajectory of the courts in recognising that a thing may comprise personal property even though it is neither a thing in action nor a thing in possession.

PUBLICATIONS

Strategic M&A series – Takeovers: Securing Value

Slaughter and May has published the latest in our Strategic M&A Series looking at takeover activity which has returned sharply in the UK in 2024. Part of our Horizon Scanning programme, this content series offers expert insights into M&A deal-making, commercial trends, and best practice guidance across sectors and jurisdictions. To subscribe to future publications in the series please click here.