Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

SMEs definition

What does SMEs mean? In legal practice, SMEs refers to small and medium-sized enterprises—businesses below specified size thresholds—used to determine eligibility for particular legal regimes, reliefs and obligations. It is a descriptive term used across multiple contexts rather than a single universal legal definition. Specific definitions vary by regime: - Company law: the Companies Act 2006 sets thresholds for “small” and “medium-sized companies” that govern accounting, audit and filing exemptions in England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. - Tax and subsidies: UK schemes (for example, R&D tax relief and subsidy control) use scheme-specific SME thresholds. Always check the relevant legislation or HMRC/BEIS guidance. - Public procurement and...

SME debt capital markets: UK and EU overview of SME growth markets, ORB retail bonds, mini-bonds, and reforms to the prospectus and market abuse regimes (Archived)

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Practice notes

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ARCHIVED

This Practice Note is archived and no longer maintained. It offers historical context and outlines concepts such as UK mini-bonds and the Order Book for Retail Bonds (ORB). With the advent of the new UK prospectus regime, these concepts are being phased out or materially reformed. It is provided for background information only. For more on the new UK prospectus regime, see Practice Note: The UK Prospectus Regulation—essentials [Archived]—Reform of the UK prospectus regime.

Introduction

Traditional debt capital markets

Historically, large corporates have tapped the debt capital markets to raise funds from an investor base made up largely of investment funds, pension funds, insurance companies and other institutional investors. Consequently, debt capital markets transactions have typically been characterised by:

substantial issue sizes—typically at least £50m (or the equivalent in another currency) and frequently above £100m
uniform distribution and underwriting procedures, whereby a lead manager with co-managers—or dealers for issues under a Euro Medium-Term Note (EMTN) programme—interposes between the issuer and prospective investors (for more information, see Practice Note: Parties in an issue of debt securities)
standardised

...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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