Low doc regime

Glossary

Also referred to as the "low doc fundraising regime". For the purposes of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (CA 2001), a public company whose securities are listed on a prescribed financial market, such as the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) may take advantage of the low doc regime to conduct a rights issue of securities or interests in a managed investment scheme without the need to issue a prospectus or Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) provided that certain criteria are met. The criteria are set out in the CA 2001 and ASIC Regulatory Guide 189: Disclosure relief for rights issues (ASIC RG 189) and require that:

The securities are being offered under a rights issue that complies with section 9A of the CA 2001.
The class of the securities is listed for quotation on a prescribed financial market at the time at which the offer is made.
Trading in that class of securities on the prescribed financial market was not suspended for more than five days during the period in which the class of securities is quoted or the period of 12 months before the day on which the offer is made (whichever is shorter).
The Corporations Regulations 2001 (Cth) do not exempt the entity from the disclosure provisions, and no exemption order has been granted to the entity under sections 111AS, 111AT, 340 or 341 of the CA 2001.
The entity gives the relevant market operator a notice in the prescribed form within the 24-hour period before the offer is made.
An Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) determination under section 708AA(3) of the CA 2001 is not in force at the time of the offer.

Offers made under the low doc regime may be referred to as low doc offers.

Low doc regime | Practical Law