Does Limiting Prospectus Pages to 300 Make Them Easier to Understand for Investors?

In the future, prospectuses will be allowed to have a maximum of 300 pages. But would that really make them easier to understand for investors?

Vienna. There are legislative projects whose intention is beyond dispute. The “Listing Act” of the EU also belongs in this category. It is intended to make IPOs more attractive. Or, as the EU Commission’s website states: “This initiative aims to simplify the listing rules, including post-admission obligations, in order to make public capital markets more attractive for EU companies and to make it easier for SMEs to access capital.”

But does the proposed regulation live up to its promises? Lawyer Stephan Pachinger, partner at Freshfields in Vienna, is skeptical about individual points. For example, when it comes to making prospectuses easier to understand for investors: this is to be achieved by limiting the number of pages to a maximum of 300.