Rely on the most comprehensive, up-to-date legal content designed and curated by lawyers for lawyers
Work faster and smarter to improve your drafting productivity without increasing risk
Accelerate the creation and use of high quality and trusted legal documents and forms
Streamline how you manage your legal business with proven tools and processes
Manage risk and compliance in your organisation to reduce your risk profile
Stay up to date and informed with insights from our trusted experts, news and information sources
Access the best content in the industry, effortlessly — confident that your news is trustworthy and up to date.
Find up-to-date guidance on points of law and then easily pull up sources to support your advice with Lexis PSL
Check out our straightforward definitions of common legal terms.
Our trusted tax intelligence solutions, highly-regarded exam training and education materials help guide and tutor Tax professionals
Access our unrivalled global news content, business information and analytics solutions
Insurance, risk and compliance intelligence using big data, proprietary linking and advanced analytics.
A leading provider of software platforms for professional services firms
In-depth analysis, commentary and practical information to help you protect your business
LexisNexis Blogs shed light on topics affecting the legal profession and the issues you're facing
Legal professionals trust us to help navigate change. Find out how we help ensure they exceed expectations
Lex Chat is a LexisNexis current affairs podcast sharing insights on topics for the legal profession
Discuss the latest legal developments, ask questions, and share best practice with other LexisPSL subscribers
This week's edition of Corporate highlights includes news of an update to our Public M&A trend report and the latest on Brexit, eg the issue by HMT of equivalence directions for EEA-approved prospectuses and EEA-adopted IFRS. It also covers an updated FCA technical note on periodic financial information and inside information, a consultation on the transposition of the Fifth Money Laundering Directive and two recent cases on contractual law issues.
Brexit
Technical update to the Withdrawal Agreement following Article 50 extension
Public company takeovers
Corporate crime for corporate lawyers
Financial services regulation for corporate lawyers
Additional Corporate updates this week
Additional news—daily and weekly news alerts
Dates for your diary
Trackers
Latest Q&As
Useful information
SI 2019/859: This enactment is made in exercise of legislative powers under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (EU(W)A 2018) in preparation for Brexit. This enactment amends the definition of ‘exit day’ in EU(W)A 2018, s 20(1) from 12 April 2019 at 11 pm to 31 October 2019 at 11 pm, and consequently amends EU(W)A 2018, s 20(2). Various provisions of EU(W)A 2018, including the repeal of the European Communities Act 1972, and a wide range of primary and secondary legislation, take effect or come into force on exit day. It comes into force immediately after 3.15 pm on 11 April 2019.
For further information, see: LNB News 12/04/2019 11.
The Department for Exiting the European Union has published correspondence with the European Commission confirming agreement to a technical change to the Withdrawal Agreement. The amendment alters the recitals and Article 185 to reflect the agreed extension to the Article 50 withdrawal period.
For further information, see LNB News 12/04/2019 42.
HM Treasury (HMT) has made the Prospectus Directive and Transparency Directive Equivalence Directions 2019 (the Directions) in exercise of the powers conferred by Equivalence Determinations for Financial Services and Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, SI 2019/541, reg 2(1) and Sch 1, para 9.
The Directions recognise the equivalence for the purposes of the Prospectus Rules of prospectuses drawn up under the law of each EEA state. The Directions also recognise that EEA-adopted International Financial Reporting Standards are equivalent to UK accounting standards for the purposes of the Transparency Directive and the Prospectus Directive.
For further information, see: LNB News 12/04/2019 65.
Lexis®PSL Corporate and Market Tracker has conducted research to examine the current trends in UK public M&A for the period 1 January 2019 to 31 March 2019.
For further information, see: UK Public M&A Trend Report update—1 January–31 March 2019.
HMT has issued a consultation document on the steps that the UK government proposes to take to meet the UK’s obligation to transpose the Fifth Money Laundering Directive (MLD5) into national law and on the potential costs and benefits of the changes considered. The closing date for comments is 10 June 2019.
For further information, see: LNB News 15/04/2019 77.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published an updated technical note on periodic financial information and inside information (FCA/TN/506.2). The updated technical note considers the requirement under the Regulation (EU) 596/2014, Market Abuse Regulation for an issuer to inform the public as soon as possible of any inside information directly concerning that issuer, in the context of periodic financial information.
For further information, see: LNB News 16/04/2019 14.
In Antuzis v DJ Houghton Catching Services Ltd [2019] EWHC 843 (QB), the claimants were granted summary judgment against the first defendant company on their claim for breach of their employment contracts, arising from alleged unpaid wages, lack of holiday pay and unlawful deductions and fees. The court further ruled, on a preliminary issue, that the second and third defendants (who were, respectively, the director and secretary of the company) were jointly and severally liable to the claimants for inducing the first defendant company's breaches of contract. This was on the basis that they had not been acting bona fide in relation to the company and, on the evidence, they had both 'actually realised' that what they had been doing had involved causing the company to breach its contractual obligations towards the claimants.
For further information, see Antuzis v DJ Houghton Catching Services Ltd [2019] All ER (D) 78 (Apr).
Jeffrey Chapman QC, barrister at Fountain Court Chambers, gives an overview of Green Deal Marketing Southern Ltd v Economy Energy Trading Ltd [2019] EWHC 507 (Ch). Relations between two companies that had partnered in the retail electricity market ceased, raising questions as to whether heads of terms formed a binding agreement, issues of contractual breach and termination and difficulties in the interpretation of the Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993, SI 1993/3053 (including whether electricity is to be classed as ‘goods’).
For further information, see News Analysis: Is electricity considered ‘goods’? (Green Deal Marketing Southern Ltd v Economy Energy Trading Ltd and others).
This document contains the highlights from the past week’s news. To receive all our news stories, whether on a daily or a basis, amend your personal settings within your ‘News’ tab on the homepage by clicking on either ‘Email’ or ‘RSS’ (depending on how you prefer to receive them) on the right hand side of the blue banner.
To track key legislative and regulatory developments, see our Trackers:
Brexit legislation tracker
Brexit timeline
Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) and Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) timeline
Market Abuse Regulation timeline
Prospectus Regulation tracker
Transparency Directive tracker
Listing Rules tracker
Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules Sourcebook tracker
Prospectus Rules tracker
New Q&As added this week:
In relation to substantial property transactions, may the director (in their capacity as a member) vote on the resolution to approve the transaction in which they are involved?
In what circumstances might a director be held personally liable for breach (of the general duties, in contract, or in tort)?
To view analysis of the latest deals in the market and the underlying transaction documents, use our Market Tracker deal analysis tool.
To read about the latest corporate announcements, see our Market Tracker weekly round-up—12 April2019.
Free trials are only available to individuals based in the UK
* denotes a required field
0330 161 1234