Australian Securities & Investments Commission consults on remaking disclosure and advertising relief for offers of foreign securities to Australian investors

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) has proposed to remake six sunsetting legislative instruments that provide disclosure relief for offers of foreign securities and interests to Australian investors, alongside related relief from certain advertising restrictions. The instruments would be remade largely on existing terms for a further five years. The relief is intended to allow Australian investors to participate in foreign offers that might otherwise exclude them due to the time and cost of meeting multiple jurisdictions’ disclosure requirements, including where the foreign offeror has complied with a disclosure regime providing similar investor protection to Australia’s requirements or where very few offers are made to Australian investors. It also provides relief from advertising restrictions for advertisements and notices aimed at foreign markets that are only incidentally published in Australia. Proposed refinements focus on clarity rather than changing the relief’s operation, including a consolidated exemption for authors or publishers in the proposed Foreign Securities—Incidental Advertising instrument, rewording in the proposed Foreign Small-Scale Offers instrument to remove ambiguity about application, and removing definitions now contained in the Corporations Act 2001. The instruments are due to sunset on 1 October 2025, and ASIC has invited feedback by 5pm AEST on 15 August 2025.