Commonwealth legislation

ASIC Class Order [CO 00/0238]

RepealedCTH

This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.

Jurisdiction

Commonwealth

Collection

legislative instrument

Plain English Summary

2/10 complexity

What this does: This is a regulatory exemption that allows registrable Australian bodies (certain companies registered in Australia, including some foreign companies) to offer shares to their existing shareholders through dividend reinvestment plans or bonus share plans without preparing expensive disclosure documents.

The technical bit explained: Normally, when a company offers shares to investors, the Corporations Act requires them to issue a disclosure document (like a prospectus) under Part 6D.2. This Class Order removes that requirement for two specific situations:

Dividend reinvestment plans (DRPs): Where shareholders choose to receive new shares instead of cash dividends
Bonus share plans: Where companies issue free shares to existing shareholders

Why it matters: This makes it cheaper and simpler for companies to run these common shareholder programs, while protecting investors who already own shares and are familiar with the company.

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Current sections

Direct links to the current provisions in ASIC Class Order [CO 00/0238].

ASIC Class Order [CO 00/0238]

ASIC Class Order [CO 00/238]

Dividend reinvestment plans

This instrument has effect under subsection 741(1) of the Corporations Act 2001.

This compilation was prepared on 4 October 2005 taking into account amendments up to [CO 03/68].

Prepared by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission
Corporations Act 2001 — Subsection 741(1) — Exemption

Under subsection 741(1) of the Corporations Act 2001 (the Act), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission hereby exempts from Part 6D.2 of the Act registrable Australian bodies in relation to an offer of fully paid shares in the body to one or more existing holders of shares in the body under a dividend reinvestment plan or a bonus share plan.

Notes to ASIC Class Order [CO 00/238]

Note 1

Note: ASIC Class Order [CO 00/238] (in force under the subsection 741(1) of the Corporations Act 2001) as shown in this compilation comprises that Class Order amended as indicated in the Tables below.

Table of Instruments

Instrument number	Date of making or FRLI registration	Date of commencement	Application, saving or transitional provisions
[CO 00/238]	12/3/2000	13/3/2000	-
[CO 03/68]	7/2/2003	7/2/2003	-

Table of Amendments

Note: ad. = added or inserted am. = amended rep. = repealed rs. = repealed and substituted

Provision affected	How affected
Text of class order	rs. [CO 03/68]

Source text

Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.

1 ASIC Class Order [CO 00/0238]