ASX confirms expiry of its temporary emergency capital raising relief on 30 November 2020.

Corporate Update

19 Nov

Written By AGH Law

ASX has confirmed that its temporary emergency capital raising relief measures will expire on 30 November 2020.

Earlier this year, in response to the volatility and uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), ASX introduced two class waivers which were aimed at providing temporary emergency capital raising relief to ASX listed entities who were affected by COVID-19, and which required urgent access to capital.

As part of the relief, ASX:

increased the placement capacity pursuant to ASX Listing Rule 7.1 from 15% to 25%, for a one-off placement of shares;
allowed entities to undertake an entitlement offer on a basis greater than 1 for 1;
increased the 5 day suspension limit to 10 days; and
accommodated back to back trading halts in relation to a capital raising, for a total of 4 trading days.

The initial expiry date of the relief was 31 July 2020, which was subsequently extended to 30 November 2020. From 16 September 2020, having regard to the stabilisation of the market since July 2020, ASX then revised the conditions that an entity is required to satisfy in order to rely on the temporary emergency capital raising relief class waivers, making it more difficult to do so.

On 19 November 2020, following consultations with ASIC and other industry stakeholders, ASX confirmed that the temporary emergency capital raising relief will expire on 30 November 2020.

If you are looking to undertake a capital raising and rely on the capital raising relief class waivers, you must receive written notice by ASX acknowledging that you are entitled to the benefit of the relevant waiver, and you must announce it to the market on or before 30 November 2020.

In addition to this announcement, ASX released a number of additional updates today. To understand more about these updates, or if you have any queries about the expiry of the temporary emergency capital raising relief, please get in touch with our team.