Corporate and M&A

By: Tony Stumm

On 19 December 2014, the Australian Government requested the Productivity Commission (PC) to enquire into and report on the barriers to setting up, transferring and closing a business and to identify options for reducing barriers, where appropriate. An issues paper was released and public submissions sought by 20 February 2015. A draft report (also subject to submissions) was issued by the PC on 21 May 2015 and the final PC report is expected by the end of August 2015.

The ability of small businesses to access debt or equity finance was raised as a crucial issue. Specifically, ‘crowd sourced equity funding’ (colloquially called crowdfunding) was identified as an area to enquire into, as well as necessary reforms to accommodate it. This newsletter focuses on crowdfunding as covered by the 21 May 2015 PC report in terms of how crowdfunding might be managed and regulated.

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