20 March 17
"Equity crowdfunding bill passed, but proprietary companies still excluded"
"Retail investors will from September be able to buy up to $10,000 of equity in their favourite business ideas, after crowd-sourced funding legislation passed the Senate.
The legislation will allow unlisted public companies with annual turnover or gross assets of up to $25 million to advertise their business plans on licensed crowdfunding portals, and raise up to $5 million a year to carry them out. Investors can put up to $10,000 a year each into an unlimited number of ideas.
A 48-hour cooling off period had applied to the legislation which passed the House of Representatives in February, however the Labor Opposition successfully amended this to five days, with support from the Greens and the Nick Xenophon Team.
However Labor was unsuccessful in a bid to make the legislation immediately apply to proprietary companies, a structure used by around 99 per cent of Australian businesses.
by Michael Bailey, AFR, 20 March 2017