Good ol’ Setty (the long-standing site pal) gives your humble scribe the heads-up on this article from Canadian lawyer people Bennett Jones, which summarizes the rule changes set to come in on May 9th in the Canadian stock markets. The rule changes are aimed at providing more transparency in the holdings, dealings and intentions of large company shareholders. You’re strongly recommended to read the whole piece, but here’s the summary paragraph which gives a taste of its contents:
“The Amendments will result in more accurate publicly available
information regarding the holdings of significant shareholders by
requiring such shareholders to report decreases in ownership. In
addition, the Amendments will lead to a greater volume of early warning
reports in light of such requirement. The enhanced disclosure
requirements concerning an investor’s future plans and intentions should
provide greater advanced warning to target boards about potential
hostile take-over bids or attempts by activist investors or other
shareholders to engage in proxy contests or otherwise influence the
governance of the issuer. Investors will need to carefully consider
whether securities lending arrangements or derivatives trigger a
disclosure obligation under the early warning regime. The Amendments
should provide greater market transparency but will impose additional
compliance costs on investors filing early warning reports.”
Overall a good thing, but Canada’s capital markets still have a long way to go to distance themselves from the scumbags and shysters who abuse their system.