A Commission Delegated Regulation with Regulatory Technical Standards on the information requirements for notification by a proposed acquirer of its proposed acquisition of a qualifying holding of an investment firm under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive and the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Both MiFID and MiFID II require that acquisitions of an investment firm or a qualifying holding in an investment firm are subject to prior approval by the relevant regulator. A qualifying holding is a direct or indirect holding in an investment firm of 10% or more of the capital or voting rights. The RTS set out the information that an acquirer must submit to a national regulator so that it can assess the proposed acquisition. The information includes that of the proposed acquirer, the persons who will direct the business of the target entity, the new proposed group structure and its impact on supervision and financing of the acquisition. The RTS also provide for the information requirements to be reduced where the proposed acquirer is an EU authorized entity and where the target entity does not hold client assets, is not authorized to undertake proprietary trading or underwriting of financial instruments and, if the target is authorized as a portfolio manager, the assets under management by the target are less than EUR 500 million.

A Commission Implementing Regulation with Implementing Technical Standards on the standard forms, templates and procedures for the consultation process between relevant national regulators on a proposed acquisition has also been published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The ITS provide the procedures for the exchange of information between the regulator of the target entity and the regulator of the proposed acquirer.

The RTS and ITS enter into force on November 15, 2017 and will apply directly across the EU.

View the RTS on information requirements for proposed acquisitions.

View the ITS on consultation procedures for proposed acquisitions.