As we reported earlier this year, the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) has carried out a consultation on a possible new structure to its listing regime for companies trading on the Main Securities Market (MSM) in Ireland.
The consultation paper sought views on re-labelling the ISE "primary" and "secondary" listing regime, in order to maintain parity of listing standards with the FSA, by mirroring changes made in April by the FSA to the UK Listing structure.
The ISE announced recently that it has decided to maintain the status quo in its listing regime for the Main Securities Market and not to follow the "premium" and "standard" system.
The ISE said that there was not a sufficiently strong mandate for change and it has therefore opted to retain its existing primary and secondary listing regime for the MSM, which means that in the vast majority of cases, Irish companies are required to have a primary listing on the ISE. As a consequence, these companies comply with the highest requirements of the ISE Listing Rules (including requirements such as shareholder approval of large transactions, as well as applying the UK Corporate Governance Code and the Irish Corporate Governance Annex).
The ISE also said that it will keep the situation under review and may reconsider its position in the light of future developments.
