On 13 April 2016, the FCA published a paper opening a discussion with the aim of ensuring market participants have access to the right information at the right time during the IPO process. Currently there is a blackout period between research on the issuer being published by the banks supporting the IPO and circulation of the issuer's prospectus, which means that investors only gain access to an important source of information late in the process. In addition, analysts unconnected with the IPO generally lack access to the management of the issuer, leaving them with little information on which to base their independent research.
The discussion paper sets out alternative IPO process models which comprise different combinations of two ideas: a requirement to delay the release of any research by analysts at banks connected to the IPO until after the prospectus is published, and a requirement to invite analysts from unconnected banks and independent research providers to any meetings with management.
The discussion period closes on 13 July 2016.
The discussion paper can be accessed here:
http://www.fca.org.uk/your-fca/documents/discussion-papers/dp16-03
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