As most of you are painfully aware, in late 2012/early 2013, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) concluded that restricted stock units (RSUs) should no longer be considered as nil-priced stock options, with the effect that most exemptions from the prospectus disclosure requirement no longer were available for RSUs. This meant that, in most cases, the grant of RSUs to employees in Australia would trigger a prospectus filing obligation, which would be extremely onerous…
One question that I have encountered almost weekly in the last year is whether companies should offer their ESPP in China. The companies that ask this question usually have already registered their equity incentive plan(s) with the China State Administration of Exchange (SAFE) and are granting options and/or RSUs to employees in China. Typically, they have held off on registering the ESPP due to administrative concerns and the fact that a SAFE registration…