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Equity Market Structure – Musings By The SEC; 15c2-11 And Penny Stocks

In March, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton and Brett Redfearn, Director of the Division of Trading and Markets, gave a speech to the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University regarding the U.S. equity market structure, including plans for future reform. Chair Clayton begins his remarks by praising the Treasury Department’s four core principles reports. In particular, the Treasury Department has issued four reports in response to an executive order dated February 3, 2017 requiring it to identify laws, treaties, regulations, guidance, reporting and record-keeping requirements, and other government policies that promote or inhibit federal regulation of the U.S. financial system.

The four reports include thorough discussions and frame the issues on: (i) Banks and Credit Unions; (ii) Capital Markets (see my blog HERE); (iii) Asset Management and Insurance; and (iv) Nonbank Financials, Fintech and Innovation (see my blog HERE).

The executive order dated February 3, 2017 directed the Treasury Department to issue reports with the following objectives:

  1. Empower
Read More »
April 23, 2019

SEC Establishes Analysis Matrix for Digital Assets

On April 3, 2019, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance published a “Framework for Investment Contract Analysis of Digital Assets,” issued a No-Action Letter to Turnkey Jet, Inc. and made a statement on both. Although all guidance is appreciated, there is really nothing new or different about the analysis, which is firmly based on SEC v. W.J. Howey Co. (the “Howey Test”).  Moreover, as discussed below, even though the SEC found that Turnkey Jet did not need to comply with the federal securities laws in the issuance and sales of its tokens, the opinion and issued guidelines do not go far enough and still leave a great deal of uncertainty.

Framework for Investment Contract Analysis of Digital Assets

The SEC’s framework sets forth facts and circumstances to be considered in applying the Howey Test to determine if a digital asset is an investment contract and thus a security subject to state and federal securities laws in its

Read More »

April 16, 2019

NASDAQ And NYSE American Shareholder Approval Requirements– Change Of Control

Nasdaq and the NYSE American both have rules requiring listed companies to receive shareholder approval prior to issuing securities in an amount of 20% or more of their outstanding common stock or voting power or prior to completing transactions which will result in a change of control of the company.  Nasdaq Rule 5635 sets forth the circumstances under which shareholder approval is required prior to an issuance of securities in connection with: (i) the acquisition of the stock or assets of another company; (ii) equity-based compensation of officers, directors, employees or consultants; (iii) a change of control; and (iv) transactions other than public offerings (see HERE related to Rule 5635(d)).  NYSE American Company Guide Sections 711, 712 and 713 have substantially similar provisions.

In a series of blogs I will detail these rules and related interpretative guidance.  In the first blog in this series I detailed the 20% Rule related to acquisitions, and its cohort, the Acquisition Rule.  In this

Read More »

April 9, 2019

SEC Adopts Rules to Amend Regulation S-K

On March 20, 2019 the SEC adopted amendments to Regulation S-K as required by the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (“FAST Act”).  The proposed amendments were first published on October 11, 2017 (see HERE). A majority of the amendments were adopted as proposed. As part of the SEC’s ongoing Disclosure Effectiveness Initiative, the amendments are designed to modernize and simplify disclosure requirements for public companies, investment advisers, and investment companies. For a detailed list of actions that have been taken by the SEC as part of its Disclosure Effectiveness Initiative, see my summary at the end of this blog.

The FAST Act, passed in December 2015, contained two sections requiring the SEC to modernize and simplify the requirements in Regulation S-K.  Section 72002 required the SEC to amend Regulation S-K to “further scale or eliminate requirements… to reduce the burden on emerging growth companies, accelerated filers, smaller reporting companies, and other smaller issuers, while still providing all material

Read More »

April 2, 2019

The 20% Rule- Acquisitions

Nasdaq and the NYSE American both have “20% Rules” requiring listed companies to receive shareholder approval prior to issuing unregistered securities in an amount of 20% or more of their outstanding common stock or voting power. Nasdaq Rule 5635 sets forth the circumstances under which shareholder approval is required prior to an issuance of securities in connection with: (i) the acquisition of the stock or assets of another company; (ii) equity-based compensation of officers, directors, employees or consultants; (iii) a change of control; and (iv) transactions other than public offerings (see HERE related to Rule 5635(d)). NYSE American Company Guide Sections 711, 712 and 713 have substantially similar provisions.

In a series of blogs I will detail these rules and related interpretative guidance. Many other Exchange Rules interplay with the 20% Rules; for example, the Exchanges generally require a Listing of Additional Securities (LAS) form submittal at least 15 days prior to the issuance of securities in the same transactions

Read More »

March 26, 2019

The Under $300 Million Market Cap Class

Depending on whom you ask, a public company with less than $300 million market cap could be considered a micro-cap company, a penny stock (unless their share price is over $5.00), a lower middle market company or even middle market.  Divestopedia defines “lower middle market” as “the lower end of the middle market segment of the economy, as measured in terms of annual revenue of the firms. Firms with an annual revenue in the range of $5 million to $50 million are grouped under the lower middle market category.”  Wikipedia defines “middle market” as “companies larger than small businesses but smaller than big businesses that account for the middle third of the U.S. economy’s revenue. Each of these companies earns an annual revenue of between $100 million and $3 billion.” In a speech to the Greater Cleveland Middle Market Forum, SEC Commissioner Robert J. Jackson, Jr. defined a middle market company as those with trailing twelve-month sales of $50 million

Read More »

March 19, 2019

SEC Rules For Disclosure Of Hedging Policies

In December 2018, the SEC approved final rules to require companies to disclose practices or policies regarding the ability of employees or directors to engage in certain hedging transactions, in proxy and information statements for the election of directors. The new rules implement Section 14(j) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) as mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act and will require the robust disclosure on hedging policies and practices including a description of any hedging transactions that are specifically permitted or disallowed. The proposed rules had initially been published on February 9, 2015 – see HERE.

Smaller reporting companies and emerging growth companies must comply with the new disclosure requirements in their proxy and information statements during fiscal years beginning on or after July 1, 2020. All other companies must comply in fiscal years beginning July 1, 2019. As foreign private issuers (FPI) are not subject to the proxy statement requirements under Section 14 of the Exchange Act,

Read More »

March 12, 2019

Testing the Waters for All Issuers

As anticipated, on February 19, 2019 the SEC voted to propose an expansion of the ability to “test the waters” prior to the effectiveness of a registration statement in a public offering, to all companies. Currently only emerging growth companies (“EGCs”) (or companies engaging in a Regulation A offering) can test the waters in advance of a public offering of securities. The proposal would implement a new Securities Act Rule 163B.  For an in-depth analysis of testing the waters and communications during an offering process, see my two-part blog HERE and HERE. The SEC proposal is open for public comment for a sixty (60)-day period.

Historically all offers to sell registered securities prior to the effectiveness of the filed registration statement have been strictly regulated and restricted. The public offering process is divided into three periods: (1) the pre-filing period, (2) the waiting or pre-effective period, and (3) the post-effective period. Communications made by the company during

Read More »

March 5, 2019

NYSE American Compliance Guidance MEMO

In January, NYSE Regulation sent out its yearly Compliance Guidance Memo to NYSE American listed companies. The annual letter updates companies on any rule changes from the year and reminds companies of items the NYSE deems important enough to warrant such a reminder.

The only new item in this year’s letter relates to advance notice of stock dividends and distributions. Effective February 1, 2018, the NYSE requires listed companies to provide ten minutes’ advance notice to the exchange of any announcement with respect to a dividend or stock distribution, whether the announcement is during or outside exchange traded hours. This change is consistent with other NYSE and Nasdaq rules which generally require notifications of announcements, including press releases, that could impact trading, at least 10 minutes prior to such notification.

The NYSE letter also provides a list of important reminders to all exchange listed companies, starting with the requirement to provide a timely alert of all material news. Part 4

Read More »

February 26, 2019

S-3 Eligibility

The ability to use an S-3 registration statement is significant for exchange traded companies.  An S-3 allows forward incorporation by reference and can be used for a shelf registration among other benefits.  S-3 eligibility is comprised of both registrant or company requirements and transaction requirements.  In this blog I will discuss the general company and transaction requirements for a Form S-3.  In a separate blog I will drill down on shelf offerings.

Registrant Requirements

Companies that meet the following requirements are eligible to use a Form S-3 for a transaction that meets one of the transaction requirements:

                (1) The company must be organized under the laws of the United States and must have its principal business operations in the United States or its territories;

                (2) The company has a class of securities registered pursuant to either Section 12(b) or 12(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) or is required to file reports pursuant to Section 15(d)

Read More »

February 19, 2019

Categories

Recent News

Equity Market Structure – Musings By The SEC; 15c2-11 And Penny Stocks

April 23, 2019

In March, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton and Brett Redfearn, Director of the Division of Trading and Markets, gave a speech to the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University regarding the U.S. equity market structure, including plans for future reform. Chair Clayton begins his remarks by praising the Treasury Department’s four core principles reports. In particular, the Treasury Department has issued four reports in response to an executive order dated February 3, 2017 requiring it to identify laws, treaties, regulations, guidance, reporting and record-keeping requirements, and other government policies that promote or inhibit federal regulation of the U.S. financial system.

The four reports include thorough discussions and frame the issues on: (i) Banks and Credit Unions; (ii) Capital Markets (see my blog HERE); (iii) Asset Management and Insurance; and (iv) Nonbank Financials, Fintech and Innovation (see my blog HERE).

The executive order dated February 3, 2017 directed the Treasury Department to issue reports with the following objectives:

  1. Empower
Read More »
Read More...

SEC Establishes Analysis Matrix for Digital Assets

April 16, 2019

On April 3, 2019, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance published a “Framework for Investment Contract Analysis of Digital Assets,” issued a No-Action Letter to Turnkey Jet, Inc. and made a statement on both. Although all guidance is appreciated, there is really nothing new or different about the analysis, which is firmly based on SEC v. W.J. Howey Co. (the “Howey Test”).  Moreover, as discussed below, even though the SEC found that Turnkey Jet did not need to comply with the federal securities laws in the issuance and sales of its tokens, the opinion and issued guidelines do not go far enough and still leave a great deal of uncertainty.

Framework for Investment Contract Analysis of Digital Assets

The SEC’s framework sets forth facts and circumstances to be considered in applying the Howey Test to determine if a digital asset is an investment contract and thus a security subject to state and federal securities laws in its

Read More »

Read More...

NASDAQ And NYSE American Shareholder Approval Requirements– Change Of Control

April 9, 2019

Nasdaq and the NYSE American both have rules requiring listed companies to receive shareholder approval prior to issuing securities in an amount of 20% or more of their outstanding common stock or voting power or prior to completing transactions which will result in a change of control of the company.  Nasdaq Rule 5635 sets forth the circumstances under which shareholder approval is required prior to an issuance of securities in connection with: (i) the acquisition of the stock or assets of another company; (ii) equity-based compensation of officers, directors, employees or consultants; (iii) a change of control; and (iv) transactions other than public offerings (see HERE related to Rule 5635(d)).  NYSE American Company Guide Sections 711, 712 and 713 have substantially similar provisions.

In a series of blogs I will detail these rules and related interpretative guidance.  In the first blog in this series I detailed the 20% Rule related to acquisitions, and its cohort, the Acquisition Rule.  In this

Read More »

Read More...

SEC Adopts Rules to Amend Regulation S-K

April 2, 2019

On March 20, 2019 the SEC adopted amendments to Regulation S-K as required by the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (“FAST Act”).  The proposed amendments were first published on October 11, 2017 (see HERE). A majority of the amendments were adopted as proposed. As part of the SEC’s ongoing Disclosure Effectiveness Initiative, the amendments are designed to modernize and simplify disclosure requirements for public companies, investment advisers, and investment companies. For a detailed list of actions that have been taken by the SEC as part of its Disclosure Effectiveness Initiative, see my summary at the end of this blog.

The FAST Act, passed in December 2015, contained two sections requiring the SEC to modernize and simplify the requirements in Regulation S-K.  Section 72002 required the SEC to amend Regulation S-K to “further scale or eliminate requirements… to reduce the burden on emerging growth companies, accelerated filers, smaller reporting companies, and other smaller issuers, while still providing all material

Read More »

Read More...

The 20% Rule- Acquisitions

March 26, 2019

Nasdaq and the NYSE American both have “20% Rules” requiring listed companies to receive shareholder approval prior to issuing unregistered securities in an amount of 20% or more of their outstanding common stock or voting power. Nasdaq Rule 5635 sets forth the circumstances under which shareholder approval is required prior to an issuance of securities in connection with: (i) the acquisition of the stock or assets of another company; (ii) equity-based compensation of officers, directors, employees or consultants; (iii) a change of control; and (iv) transactions other than public offerings (see HERE related to Rule 5635(d)). NYSE American Company Guide Sections 711, 712 and 713 have substantially similar provisions.

In a series of blogs I will detail these rules and related interpretative guidance. Many other Exchange Rules interplay with the 20% Rules; for example, the Exchanges generally require a Listing of Additional Securities (LAS) form submittal at least 15 days prior to the issuance of securities in the same transactions

Read More »

Read More...

The Under $300 Million Market Cap Class

March 19, 2019

Depending on whom you ask, a public company with less than $300 million market cap could be considered a micro-cap company, a penny stock (unless their share price is over $5.00), a lower middle market company or even middle market.  Divestopedia defines “lower middle market” as “the lower end of the middle market segment of the economy, as measured in terms of annual revenue of the firms. Firms with an annual revenue in the range of $5 million to $50 million are grouped under the lower middle market category.”  Wikipedia defines “middle market” as “companies larger than small businesses but smaller than big businesses that account for the middle third of the U.S. economy’s revenue. Each of these companies earns an annual revenue of between $100 million and $3 billion.” In a speech to the Greater Cleveland Middle Market Forum, SEC Commissioner Robert J. Jackson, Jr. defined a middle market company as those with trailing twelve-month sales of $50 million

Read More »

Read More...

SEC Rules For Disclosure Of Hedging Policies

March 12, 2019

In December 2018, the SEC approved final rules to require companies to disclose practices or policies regarding the ability of employees or directors to engage in certain hedging transactions, in proxy and information statements for the election of directors. The new rules implement Section 14(j) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) as mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act and will require the robust disclosure on hedging policies and practices including a description of any hedging transactions that are specifically permitted or disallowed. The proposed rules had initially been published on February 9, 2015 – see HERE.

Smaller reporting companies and emerging growth companies must comply with the new disclosure requirements in their proxy and information statements during fiscal years beginning on or after July 1, 2020. All other companies must comply in fiscal years beginning July 1, 2019. As foreign private issuers (FPI) are not subject to the proxy statement requirements under Section 14 of the Exchange Act,

Read More »

Read More...

Testing the Waters for All Issuers

March 5, 2019

As anticipated, on February 19, 2019 the SEC voted to propose an expansion of the ability to “test the waters” prior to the effectiveness of a registration statement in a public offering, to all companies. Currently only emerging growth companies (“EGCs”) (or companies engaging in a Regulation A offering) can test the waters in advance of a public offering of securities. The proposal would implement a new Securities Act Rule 163B.  For an in-depth analysis of testing the waters and communications during an offering process, see my two-part blog HERE and HERE. The SEC proposal is open for public comment for a sixty (60)-day period.

Historically all offers to sell registered securities prior to the effectiveness of the filed registration statement have been strictly regulated and restricted. The public offering process is divided into three periods: (1) the pre-filing period, (2) the waiting or pre-effective period, and (3) the post-effective period. Communications made by the company during

Read More »

Read More...

NYSE American Compliance Guidance MEMO

February 26, 2019

In January, NYSE Regulation sent out its yearly Compliance Guidance Memo to NYSE American listed companies. The annual letter updates companies on any rule changes from the year and reminds companies of items the NYSE deems important enough to warrant such a reminder.

The only new item in this year’s letter relates to advance notice of stock dividends and distributions. Effective February 1, 2018, the NYSE requires listed companies to provide ten minutes’ advance notice to the exchange of any announcement with respect to a dividend or stock distribution, whether the announcement is during or outside exchange traded hours. This change is consistent with other NYSE and Nasdaq rules which generally require notifications of announcements, including press releases, that could impact trading, at least 10 minutes prior to such notification.

The NYSE letter also provides a list of important reminders to all exchange listed companies, starting with the requirement to provide a timely alert of all material news. Part 4

Read More »

Read More...

S-3 Eligibility

February 19, 2019

The ability to use an S-3 registration statement is significant for exchange traded companies.  An S-3 allows forward incorporation by reference and can be used for a shelf registration among other benefits.  S-3 eligibility is comprised of both registrant or company requirements and transaction requirements.  In this blog I will discuss the general company and transaction requirements for a Form S-3.  In a separate blog I will drill down on shelf offerings.

Registrant Requirements

Companies that meet the following requirements are eligible to use a Form S-3 for a transaction that meets one of the transaction requirements:

                (1) The company must be organized under the laws of the United States and must have its principal business operations in the United States or its territories;

                (2) The company has a class of securities registered pursuant to either Section 12(b) or 12(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) or is required to file reports pursuant to Section 15(d)

Read More »

Read More...
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