Handbook

This course builds on your knowledge of the course Business Associations but focuses on issues relating to public companies, particularly large public companies. The course focuses on legal issues related to disclosure as a form of regulation, the terms and conditions imposed when a company wishes to raise funds from the public and the market for corporate control. Another important focus for the course is to examine the role of the key regulatory agencies, ASIC and the ASX, as bodies regulating companies and capital markets.

The course is a specialist subject for those with a strong interest in corporate and securities law. It is important for those wishing to pursue a career in this field as a commercial lawyer or barrister, as an investment banker, as a policy adviser in government or a regulatory agency, or in legal publishing.

Main Topics

• Securities regulators
• Continuous disclosure
• Fundraising
• Takeovers
• Market integrity.

The areas of law covered in this course are:

• The role of ASIC and the ASX as bodies regulating companies and capital markets
• The continuous disclosure of information to securities markets
• The terms and conditions upon which companies may raise funds from the public, ie, the issue and content of prospectuses
• The structure and regulation of the market for corporate control (ie, takeovers), including a study of the role of the Takeovers Panel and the regime of compulsory acquisition
• The legal regimes relating to insider trading and market manipulation.