Corporate actions are events which may have an impact on shareholders and/or a company’s share price.

They can be classed as mandatory, mandatory with options, or voluntary.

Mandatory corporate actions affect all shareholders. Examples of mandatory corporate actions include: stock splits, consolidations, takeovers, mergers, demergers, name changes and bonus issues.

‘Mandatory with options’ corporate actions affect all shareholders but offer an option to elect on an aspect of the event. Examples of ‘mandatory with options’ corporate actions include rights issues, certain dividends and open offers.

Examples of voluntary corporate actions include tender offers and certain types of takeovers.

You can read about how corporate actions work with Freetrade here.