Atlassian Initiates Transfer to UK; AU Misses Out on Tech Investment

Australian software company Atlassian Corp., in a move to boost initial offerings in the US and for healthier regulatory incentives, seeks to transfer domicile to the UK.

Founded around a decade ago by Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes in 2002, Atlassian Corp. quickly grew to a multi-million dollar technology business, currently with a 600-strong workforce and client portfolio including big companies like Twitter Inc. and EBay Inc.

According to Bloomberg, one of the primary objectives in this domicile transfer is to get into the NASDAQ listings, or New York Stock Exchange. Additionally, Business Review Weekly says that Atlassian also seeks for "better regulatory incentives" - citing William Buck's Nikolas Hatzistergos commentary on the situation. Mr Hatzistergos says that Australia is currently "an expensive place to do business".

The board of Atlassian Corp. will put the decision into a vote come Jan. 29.

AU loses out on tech business boom

AFR (Australian Financial Review) and other analysts say that Australia is "missing out on the digital technology boom" as more Australian companies are considering on moving their base of operations to other places with better regulatory schemes. Moreover, AFR says that local companies are incorporating in the UK and Asia instead so they could gain more on tax breaks regarding research and development and agreements on employee shares.

BRW cites several Australian companies who are considering the move of their base of operations including BTC SX, who is currently incorporating in Singapore; Leadbolt; and Freelancer.com. The mentioned companies were said to have been advised by tax experts that they would gain more if they take their company offshore instead.

Peter Madden, international tax partner of Deloitte, also commented that the Australian administration is falling behind the competition as the UK aggressively "chases investment" instead.