In terms of the EU Market Abuse Regulation (MAR), issuers may acquire their own shares without any concern of engaging in insider dealing and/or market manipulation, provided that they follow the requirements set out in article 5. One of these requirements is for issuers to report their share buy backs to the relevant competent authority no later than by the end of the 7th daily market session following the date of the execution of the transaction. Issuers need to report their buy backs both on an aggregated and an individual basis.
Equity issuers listed in Malta (which are not also listed in another EU member state) will need to report their share buy backs to the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) as competent authority. To this end, the MFSA has published a helpful template notification to facilitate issuers' compliance with their reporting obligations. The notification is to be submitted to the MFSA via email to pfma@mfsa.mt. Note that the trading venue identification code (MIC) to be used when shares are listed on the Official List of the Malta Stock Exchange is 'XMAL'.
Furthermore, issuers are reminded that they are required to publicly disclose their share buy backs by means of a company announcement. Following certain amendments to MAR carried out by the EU Listing Act, issuers are now only required to publicly disclose buy backs in an aggregated form.
This article was co-authored with Martina Bonnici an Advocate in our Capital Markets department.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
