Something really must be done about rights issues. Investors want to retain rights of "pre-emption", to use the legal phrase. When the European second company law directive was reviewed last year as part of the European Union's cut-back on red tape, the Commission was surprised by the outcry against abolishing shareholder's rights to have new shares offered to them before being offered to anyone else. These rights protect investors against dilution and give them the ability to support and supplement investments as they think fit. Read more…

This article first appeared in the 12 April issue of FTfm.