Austrian Capital Market Act (KMG): new €75 million threshold eases prospectus exemption conditions
Austria's Capital Market Act (Kapitalmarktgesetz – KMG) has been amended to introduce a new €75 million ceiling: when the total value of an offering stays below €75 million over any rolling 12-month period, two additional conditions that normally apply to certain deposit-linked instruments (lit. c and d) are waived. The law also formally inserts the abbreviation 'KMG' and makes minor terminological corrections.
What changed
A new sentence was added to §3(1) Z 3 of the KMG: for offerings with a total value below €75 million (calculated over 12 months), the requirements that instruments must represent repayable deposits (lit. c) and be covered by a deposit guarantee scheme (lit. d) no longer need to be satisfied. Additionally, the official short title 'KMG' was inserted into the law text, an editorial note about the repeal of Z 16 was added, and the term 'Bank' was replaced with 'Kreditinstitut' (credit institution) in the prospectus-review provisions.
Who is affected
Issuers and offerors of securities and capital investments in Austria who rely on the exemptions in §3(1) Z 3 of the KMG are directly affected. If their offering volume stays below €75 million over any 12-month window, they no longer need to ensure their instruments meet the deposit-related conditions of lit. c and d.
What to look out for
The €75 million cap must be calculated on a rolling 12-month basis across all relevant offerings; exceeding this threshold in any 12-month period reinstates the full set of conditions. The 'Bank'/'Kreditinstitut' change is purely terminological and does not alter the substance of the prospectus-review rules.