The difficult market environment also had an impact on prospectus approvals and issuing activity in Austria during the year 2011. This effect became particularly evident during Q4 2011 from the number of supplements, which increased by about one third over Q3 2011 as well as compared with the same quarter of 2010. The news was disclosed in the first Quarterly Report on Austrian Prospectus Supervision, published today by the Financial Market Authority FMA.
A total of 28 prospectuses (for dividend stocks and non-dividend stocks) were approved by prospectus supervision between 1 October and 31 December 2011, representing one more approval than in Q3 2011. In this way the legal basis was established for the issuing of a maximum volume of around €3.8 billion in securities. 21 supplements were published and approved, while two issuers withdrew their applications for prospectus approval or cancelled the public offering before the end of the subscription period due to a poor market response.
In 2011 a total of 104 prospectuses (2010: 100) and 65 supplements (2010: 48) were approved, and seven applications for approval were withdrawn (2010: 7).
In terms of issuing activity, the drop in the number of basis prospectuses between Q3 and Q4 stands out in particular. A basis prospectus establishes the framework for issuing a number of similarly structured securities, for which the individual terms of the offering may then be defined in each case just prior to issuing. The number of issuers in the category of building loan banks that turned to the capital market for funding rose from two in Q3 to five in Q4. In comparison, issuing activity remained about the same for bonds (Q3: 1; Q4: 0) as well as for IPOs, capital increases and listing prospectuses (Q3: 1; Q4: 2),
With regard to 2011 as a whole, the decline in the number of bond prospectuses approved by the FMA is particularly significant, dropping from seven in 2010 to two in 2011. There was a slight increase in the case of basis prospectuses as well as for IPOs, capital increases and listing prospectuses. The number of prospectuses issued by building loan banks remained unchanged.
Once a prospectus or a compulsory supplement is approved in one EEA Member State, for the duration of its validity it may be used for a public offering or admission to trading on a regulated market in any other EEA Member State as well. This presupposes that the competent authority in the respective host country (in Austria the FMA) is first notified. Specifically, a striking decrease was seen in the number of notifications, from 102 in Q3 to 61 in Q4. There was a noticeable increase in the number of supplements, which rose from 548 to 983.
A total of 386 notifications were received in 2011, representing a slight increase compared with the previous year, whereas the number of supplements increased from 1,789 to 2,482. The majority of incoming notifications to the FMA were submitted by the competent authorities in Luxembourg and in Germany.
The responsibilities of prospectus supervision include identifying any violations related to public offerings and to the advertising of securities or investments as well as any breaches of the obligations imposed by the Kapitalmarktgesetz (KMG; Capital Market Act ) with regard to the publication, reporting and depositing of documents. In this connection, administrative penal proceedings were conducted in eleven cases, and five reports were submitted to the public prosecutor’s office during Q4. The year 2011 as a whole saw 39 cases of administrative penal proceedings and 25 reports to the public prosecutor’s office
You can find the full Quarterly Report (in German) on the FMA website at: https://www.fma.gv.at/kapitalmaerkte/aufsicht-ueber-kapitalmarktprospekte/quartalsberichte/
Journalists may address further enquiries to:
Klaus Grubelnik (FMA Media Spokesperson)
+43 (0)1 24959 5106
+43 (0)676 882 49 516