Has the Prospectus Directive changed the landscape for debt issues in Europe?

On 1 July 2005 the Prospectus Directive was due to be implemented in all 25 EU Member States. Simon Porter of Norton Rose takes this opportunity to explore some of the issues that have arisen since the Directive’s implementation date, as well as the alternative regimes that are available.

Simon Porter, Norton Rose, (simon.porter@nortonrose.com)

Issuers should now be subject to the same listing requirements, whether they offer their securities to the public in London or Bratislava, or apply for admission to trading on a regulated market in Dublin or Copenhagen. However, inconsistencies in the interpretation and the somewhat erratic implementation of the Directive by EU Member States have resulted in Europe’s capital markets after 1 July 2005 providing a far from certain playing field.