Latham & Watkins

Mark Austin advises clients on a full range of public and private securities offerings as well as M&A and general corporate matters across multiple sectors.

He leverages extensive experience to guide market-leading companies and investment banks on:

• • Initial public offerings (IPOs)
  • Rights issues and open offers
  • Placings
  • Mergers and acquisitions
  • General corporate work

A recognized industry leader, Mark is a member and former Chair of the Listing Authority Advisory Panel, the practitioner panel that advises the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on primary markets policy and regulation issues. He also serves on the FCA’s Markets Practitioner Panel and The London Stock Exchange’s Primary Markets Group.

He is a member of the UK’s Capital Markets Industry Taskforce (CMIT), which was announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in July 2022, and which is tasked with reforming the UK’s capital markets, as well as HM Treasury’s Digitization Taskforce.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer appointed Mark in October 2021 as the independent chair of the UK Secondary Capital Raising Review, which proposed reforms to the capital raising process for listed companies. He delivered the Review to the Chancellor in July 2022. He also advised Lord Hill on the UK Listing Review in 2021. He received a CBE in the King’s 2024 New Year Honours List for services to the economy.