Doing business in Australia

The Gadens Doing business in Australia guide provides foreign investors with an overview of the Australian business, economic and regulatory environment, as well as practical advice on how to go about setting up and doing business in Australia. Australia is an ideal investment location for foreign companies looking to grow internationally, benefitting from well-developed infrastructure, […]

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Regulatory action for greenwashing is upon us

Last week, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) commenced civil penalty proceedings for alleged greenwashing against Mercer Superannuation (Australia) Limited (Mercer). This is in addition to ASIC having issued penalty notices to at least four companies for alleged greenwashing, since October 2022. Last year, ASIC identified investigating greenwashing and taking enforcement action where greenwashing […]

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Easing of continuous disclosure obligations made permanent by the Federal Government

On Tuesday 10 August 2021, the Australian Parliament enacted changes to company continuous disclosure laws under Schedule 2 of the Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No 1) Act 2021 (Amending Act). Schedule 2 to the Amending Act was originally given life by: Treasurer Frydenberg’s introduction of the Corporations (Coronavirus Economic Response) Determination (No. 2) 2020, […]

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ASIC provides ‘no action’ relief for conducting virtual meetings and delayed AGMs

After the Federal Government’s proposed legislation to extend the temporary relief for corporations to conduct virtual meetings stalled in the Parliament, we speculated in our recent update as to whether ASIC would issue a ‘no action’ position, electing not to take regulatory action against companies conducting virtual meetings despite requirements to do so in the […]

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The Singapore Convention Has Now Entered Into Force

Purpose One of the major roadblocks for parties contemplating mediation of cross-border commercial disputes has been the uncertainty, cost and/or delay in enforcing a breach of a term of mediated settlement agreement. This has often resulted in parties to a commercial cross-border dispute resorting to court/curial focused litigation or indeed foreign arbitral proceedings which are […]

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Legal snapshot: Australian capital raising exemptions

Companies seeking to raise capital in Australia through an offer of securities should familiarise themselves with the prospectus requirements and exemptions to those requirements in Chapter 6D of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (the Corporations Act) before undertaking any fundraising activities. Generally, an offer of “securities” in Australia will require the preparation of a disclosure […]

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Is it all in the name? Fundraising with SAFE notes

A relatively recent development in the world of fundraising for start-ups has been the use of “SAFE” (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) instruments. Y-Combinator, a seed funding platform based in Silicon Valley, claims to have developed it as a (potentially) standardised instrument and as an alternative to convertible notes, which can save companies and investors […]

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