announcement: cleansing notice to the spp..., page-3

Class Order 09/425

The three most significant changes are:

?? the maximum value of securities that can be issued to an individual investor under SPPs in any 12 month period has been increased from $5,000 to $15,000;
?? where custodians hold securities on behalf of individual investors, each of the underlying beneficiaries can participate in an SPP, even if they are not expressly noted on the register of members; and
?? issuers must now lodge a cleansing notice on ASX as part of an SPP offer.

ASIC Class Order

Generally, a retail offer of securities requires the issuer to produce a prospectus or product disclosure statement to ensure that investors have access to all the information required to make an informed investment decision. Various exemptions apply, including certain exemptions relating to SPPs.

Since 1991 ASIC has granted relief in relation to SPPs to allow ASX-listed entities to offer shares or interests to existing members without a prospectus or product disclosure statement. ASIC today extended the exemptions offered in relation to SPPs, publishing a new Class Order (CO 09/425) (new Class Order). Existing class orders 02/831 and 02/832 are revoked from 1 September 2009.

Main changes

1. Threshold increase

The current ASIC class orders permit ASX-listed entities to offer securities to existing investors under an SPP without a prospectus or product disclosure statement where the total amount issued to each security holder under SPPs in 12 months was no more than $5,000. Since November 2008, ASIC has been granting case by case relief to allow SPP offers to be made up to $10,000 then $15,000. The new Class Order has set this monetary limit at $15,000.

We expect that the ASX will amend the terms of Listing Rule 7.2 exception 15 and Listing Rule 10.12 exception 8 to reflect the new maximum monetary limit of $15,000. In recent submissions to ASIC, the ASX confirmed that they supported the proposal to increase the limit to $15,000 and would work with ASIC to coordinate the introduction of ASX?fs proposed Listing Rule changes.

-- So (I guess) in answer to a question from ASX NWT are saying they rely on this order to get the issus done..