Should companies with dual class shares be premium listed?

Hosted by the Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College, London, the Law School, University of Edinburgh, and the Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.

 

The Kalifa Review of UK Fintech and the UK Listing Review of Lord Hill have proposed enabling companies with ‘dual class’ share structures to be ‘premium listed’. A dual class share structure usually involves more votes per share for one or two shareholders, often a founding director, while other shareholders have fewer votes.Companies can already have different voting rights attached to shares, however a combination of regulation and institutional investor reluctance has prevented dual class share companies being in ‘premium’ listings particularly on the London Stock Exchange. This matters because many index linked investment funds track premium listings, and non-premium companies lose those investments and liquidity. On the one hand, it is argued that dual class shares are prevalent in the US, particularly among ‘big tech’ firms such as Facebook, Google, Snap, or Alibaba and the UK should enable greater flexibility if this will attract innovative companies to list. On the other hand, it is argued that dual class share structures may weaken accountability, and the evidence of innovation is unclear. There are a vast range of views, and so we are delighted to host a public discussion to inform debate.

 

We have put together a panel of experts from academia, industry and the legal profession. Each will speak for 8 to 10 minutes for the first hour, and then in the second hour we will open up for discussion and debate with the audience. We are inviting people from across academia, financial services, government, the legal profession, and hope the event to be an informative and engaging one for everybody involved.

Chair:

Anna Christie, Law School, University of Edinburgh

 

 

 

Opening speakers – first hour:

Luca Enriques, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Oxford

Claire Keast-Butler, Partner, Cooley LLP

Dionysia Katelouzou, School of Law, King’s College, London

Janice Turner, co-chair of the Association of Member Nominated Trustees

Ewan McGaughey, School of Law, King’s College, London

 

 

 

Discussion, questions and debate – second hour

All members of the audience (see you there!)