Diversity. This is a fair word to describe Portuguese debt capital markets in 2019. We have seen a bit of everything this year: new issuers, including Transportes Aéreos Portugueses, Sociedade Independente de Comunicação and Casais, SGPS, and from the public sector, the Autonomous Region of the Azores, frequent issuers, including Sport Lisboa e Benfica – Futebol SAD, Mota-Engil, José de Mello Saúde and Galp, and from new structures, including the combination of subscription and exchange offers to retail and institutional investors, and the segregation of books by types of investors (retail vs eligible counterparties and professional clients in retail offerings), and even a new prospectus regulation. Lastly, at the top of the list, new investors and alternative funding sources for Portuguese issuers. This is good news in a year that, on the regulatory front, turned a page with the enactment of the new EU Prospectus Regulation and related delegated regulations.
As from 21 July 2019, new rules were required to be followed in the preparation of the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market. New rules were also adopted in respect of related advertisements.
