Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

Article 2 U.K. Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:

(za)

[F1 FCA’ means the Financial Conduct Authority;

(zb)

FSMA’ means the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ;

(zc)

‘markets in financial instruments regulation’ means Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on markets in financial instruments and amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012;

(zd)

references to a ‘third country’ (including in expressions including the words ‘third country’) are to be read as references to a country other than the United Kingdom;

(ze)

any reference in this Regulation to a sourcebook is to a sourcebook in the Handbook of Rules and Guidance published by the FCA containing rules made by the FCA under FSMA, as the sourcebook has effect on IP completion day;

(zf)

a reference to the UK law which implemented a Directive, or a provision thereof, is to the law of the United Kingdom which was relied on by the United Kingdom immediately before IP completion day to implement that Directive and its implementing measures—

(i)

as they have effect on IP completion day, in the case of rules made by the FCA under FSMA, and

(ii)

as amended from time to time, in all other cases.]

(a)

[F2 ‘securities’ means transferable securities as defined in Article 2(1)(24) of the markets in financial instruments regulation, other than money market instruments as defined in Article 2(1)(25A) of that regulation that have a maturity of less than 12 months;]

(b)

‘equity securities’ means shares and other transferable securities equivalent to shares in companies, as well as any other type of transferable securities giving the right to acquire any of the aforementioned securities as a consequence of their being converted or the rights conferred by them being exercised, provided that securities of the latter type are issued by the issuer of the underlying shares or by an entity belonging to the group of the said issuer;

(c)

‘non-equity securities’ means all securities that are not equity securities;

(d)

‘offer of securities to the public’ means a communication to persons in any form and by any means, presenting sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the securities to be offered, so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe for those securities. This definition also applies to the placing of securities through financial intermediaries;

(e)

[F3 ‘qualified investor’, in relation to an offer of transferable securities, means—

(i)

a person described in paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 to the markets in financial instruments regulation, other than a person who, before the making of the offer, has agreed in writing with the relevant firm (or each of the relevant firms) to be treated as a non-professional client in accordance with paragraph 4 of that Schedule;

(ii)

a person who has made a request to one or more relevant firms to be treated as a professional client in accordance with paragraphs 5 and 6 of that Schedule and has not subsequently, but before the making of the offer, agreed in writing with that relevant firm (or each of those relevant firms) to be treated as a non-professional client in accordance with paragraph 4 of that Schedule;

(iii)

a person who—

(aa)

is an eligible counterparty for the purposes of Section 6 of Chapter 3 of the Conduct of Business sourcebook, and

(bb)

has not, before the making of the offer, agreed in writing with the relevant firm (or each of the relevant firms) to be treated as a non-professional client in accordance with paragraph 4 of Schedule 1 to the markets in financial instruments regulation; or

(iv)

a person whom—

(aa)

any relevant firm was authorised to continue to treat as a professional client immediately before 3 January 2018 by virtue of Article 71.6 (transitional provisions) of Directive 2004/39/EC on markets in financial instruments; and

(bb)

the firm was entitled immediately before IP completion day to continue to treat as a professional client by virtue of Section II.2 of Annex II to the markets in financial instruments directive,

and for the purposes of this definition, ‘relevant firm” means an investment firm (within the meaning of section 424A of FSMA) or qualifying credit institution (within the meaning in section 417 of FSMA) acting in connection with the offer;]

(f)

‘small and medium-sized enterprises’ or ‘SMEs’ means any of the following:

(i)

companies, which, according to their last annual or consolidated accounts, meet at least two of the following three criteria: an average number of employees during the financial year of less than 250, a total balance sheet not exceeding EUR 43 000 000 and an annual net turnover not exceeding EUR 50 000 000;

(ii)

small and medium-sized enterprises as defined in point (13) of Article 4(1) of Directive 2014/65/EU.

(g)

[F4 ‘credit institution’ has the meaning given in Article 2(1)(19) of the markets in financial instruments regulation;]

(h)

‘issuer’ means a legal entity which issues or proposes to issue securities;

(i)

‘offeror’ means a legal entity or individual which offers securities to the public;

(j)

‘regulated market’ means a regulated market as defined in [F5 Article 2(1)(13) of the markets in financial instruments regulation];

(k)

‘advertisement’ means a communication with both of the following characteristics:

(i)

relating to a specific offer of securities to the public or to an admission to trading on a regulated market;

(ii)

aiming to specifically promote the potential subscription or acquisition of securities;

(l)

[F6 ‘regulated information’ means all information which an issuer, or any other person who has applied for the admission of securities to trading on a regulated market without the issuer's consent, is required to disclose under—

(i)

qualifying transparency legislation;

(ii)

Articles 17 to 19 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on market abuse (market abuse regulation) and repealing Directive 2003/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directives 2003/124/EC, 2003/125/EC and 2004/72/EC;

(iii)

listing rules,

and for the purposes of this definition, ‘listing rules’ and ‘qualifying transparency legislation’ have the same meaning as in Part 6 of FSMA;]

(m)

F7 ...

(n)

F7 ...

(o)

‘competent authority’ means the [F8 FCA];

(p)

‘collective investment undertaking other than the closed-end type’ means unit trusts and investment companies with both of the following characteristics:

(i)

they raise capital from a number of investors, with a view to investing it in accordance with a defined investment policy for the benefit of those investors;

(ii)

their units are, at the holder’s request, repurchased or redeemed, directly or indirectly, out of their assets;

(q)

‘units of a collective investment undertaking’ means securities issued by a collective investment undertaking as representing the rights of the participants in such an undertaking over its assets;

(r)

‘approval’ means the positive act at the outcome of the scrutiny by the F9 ... competent authority of the completeness, the consistency and the comprehensibility of the information given in the prospectus;

(s)

‘base prospectus’ means a prospectus that complies with Article 8, and, at the choice of the issuer, the final terms of the offer;

(t)

[F10 ‘working day’ has the same meaning as in section 103 of FSMA;]

(u)

[F11 ‘multilateral trading facility’ or ‘MTF’ means a UK multilateral trading facility as defined by Article 2(1)(14A) of the markets in financial instruments regulation;]

(v)

[F12 ‘organised trading facility’ or ‘OTF’ means a UK organised trading facility as defined by Article 2(1)(15A) of the markets in financial instruments regulation;]

(w)

[F13 ‘SME growth market’ means a multilateral trading facility that is registered as an SME growth market in accordance with Section 10 of Part 5 of the Market Conduct sourcebook;]

(x)

‘third country issuer’ means an issuer established in a third country;

(y)

‘offer period’ means the period during which potential investors may purchase or subscribe for the securities concerned;

(z)

‘durable medium’ means any instrument which:

(i)

enables a customer to store information addressed personally to that customer in a way accessible for future reference and for a period adequate for the purposes of the information; and

(ii)

allows the unchanged reproduction of the information stored.

Textual Amendments

F1 Arts. 2(za)-(zf) inserted (31.12.2020) by The Prospectus (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1234), regs. 1(4), 33(a) (as amended by S.I. 2020/1301, regs. 1, 3, Sch. para. 48(c)(i)) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11 (as amended by S.I. 2019/1234, reg. 29(2))); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F2 Art. 2(a) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Prospectus (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1234), regs. 1(4), 33(b) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11 (as amended by S.I. 2019/1234, reg. 29(2))); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F3 Art. 2(e) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Prospectus (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1234), regs. 1(4), 33(c) (as amended by S.I. 2020/1301, regs. 1, 3, Sch. para. 48(c)(ii)) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11 (as amended by S.I. 2019/1234, reg. 29(2))); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F4 Art. 2(g) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Prospectus (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1234), regs. 1(4), 33(d) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11 (as amended by S.I. 2019/1234, reg. 29(2))); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F5 Words in Art. 2(j) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Prospectus (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1234), regs. 1(4), 33(e) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11 (as amended by S.I. 2019/1234, reg. 29(2))); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F6 Art. 2(l) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Prospectus (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1234), regs. 1(4), 33(f) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11 (as amended by S.I. 2019/1234, reg. 29(2))); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F7 Art. 2(m)(n) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Prospectus (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1234), regs. 1(4), 33(g) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11 (as amended by S.I. 2019/1234, reg. 29(2))); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F8 Word in Art. 2(o) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Prospectus (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1234), regs. 1(4), 33(h) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11 (as amended by S.I. 2019/1234, reg. 29(2))); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F9 Words in Art. 2(r) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Prospectus (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1234), regs. 1(4), 33(i) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11 (as amended by S.I. 2019/1234, reg. 29(2))); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F10 Art. 2(t) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Prospectus (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1234), regs. 1(4), 33(j) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11 (as amended by S.I. 2019/1234, reg. 29(2))); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F11 Art. 2(u) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Prospectus (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1234), regs. 1(4), 33(k) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11 (as amended by S.I. 2019/1234, reg. 29(2))); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F12 Art. 2(v) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Prospectus (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1234), regs. 1(4), 33(l) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11 (as amended by S.I. 2019/1234, reg. 29(2))); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F13 Art. 2(w) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Prospectus (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1234), regs. 1(4), 33(m) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11 (as amended by S.I. 2019/1234, reg. 29(2))); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)