European Prospectus Directive May Discourage Stock Purchase Plans

According to speakers at a recent conference held by the ESOP Centre in London, the requirements of the recent Prospectus Directive from the European Union may discourage some non-EU companies from running employee stock purchase plans. These companies now may have to file expensive prospectuses for their EU operations every time they issue shares to employees. Motorola has already stopped its EU share purchase plans, and other countries are considering it. The problem appears to be in an imprecisely drafted document. EU European Commission members may revisit the document to try to correct the problems.