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Search Results for: accredited investor – Page 5

A Review of FINRA’s Corporate Finance Rule

As the strongest U.S. IPO market in decades continues unabated, it seems a good time to talk about underwriter’s compensation.  FINRA Rule 5110 (Corporate Financing Rule – Underwriting Terms and Arrangements) governs the compensation that may be received by an underwriter in connection with a public offering.

Rule 5110 – The “Corporate Financing Rule”

Rule 5110 regulates underwriting compensation and prohibits unfair arrangements in connection with the public offerings of securities.  The Rule prohibits member firms from participating in a public offering of securities if the underwriting terms and conditions, including compensation, are unfair as defined by FINRA.  The Rule requires FINRA members to make filings with FINRA disclosing information about offerings they participate in, including the amount of all compensation to be received by the firm or its principals, and affiliations and relationships that could result in the existence of a conflict of interest.  As more fully described herein, underwriter’s compensation is subject to lock-up provisions.

Filing Requirements

Consequences Of Failing To File A Form D

I often get calls from clients or potential clients that have engaged in exempt offerings, have not filed a Form D and are wondering what the consequences might be.  Taking it further, what are the consequences of not complying with the minor state blue sky requirements for any federally covered securities?

Form D – In General

A Form D is a brief fill-in-the-blank form that is filed with the SEC in connection with an offering or issuance of securities in reliance on the exemptions from the Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”) registration requirements found in Regulation D.  The offering exemptions in Regulation D consist of Rules 504, 506(b) and 506(c) (see HERE).

A Form D is a notice filing.  Rule 503 of Regulation D, which was last amended in November 2016, requires that a company relying on Rules 504 or 506 must file a Form D, notice of sales, with the SEC for each new offering

SEC Denies Expert Market – For Now

As the compliance date for the new 15c2-11 rules looms near, on August 2, 2021, in a very short statement, the SEC shot down any near-term hope for an OTC Markets operated “expert market.”  The SEC short statement indicated that a review of the proposed exemptive order that would allow the expert market is not on its agenda in the short term.  The SEC continued that “[A]ccordingly, on September 28, 2021, the compliance date for the amendments to Rule 15c2-11, we expect that broker-dealers will no longer be able to publish proprietary quotations for the securities of any issuer for which there is no current and publicly available information, unless an existing exception to Rule 15c2-11 applies.”

The statement acts as a great segue for a review as to just what those exceptions may be.  In addition, this blog will discuss the OTC Markets proposed expert market and finish with a broader refresher on the new 211 rules including the

SEC Spring 2021 Regulatory Agenda

The first version of the SEC’s semiannual regulatory agenda and plans for rulemaking under the current administration has been published in the federal register.  The Spring 2021 Agenda (“Agenda”) is current through April 2021 and contains many notable pivots from the previous SEC regime’s focus.  The Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions contains the Regulatory Plans of 28 federal agencies and 68 federal agency regulatory agendas. The Agenda is published twice a year, and for several years I have blogged about each publication.

The Agenda is broken down by (i) “Pre-rule Stage”; (ii) Proposed Rule Stage; (iii) Final Rule Stage; and (iv) Long-term Actions.  The Proposed and Final Rule Stages are intended to be completed within the next 12 months and Long-term Actions are anything beyond that.  The number of items to be completed in a 12-month time frame jumped up to 45 items since Fall, which had only 32 items.  Some of the new items are a revisit

SEC Fall 2020 Regulatory Agenda

The SEC’s latest version of its semiannual regulatory agenda and plans for rulemaking has been published in the federal register.  The Fall 2020 Agenda (“Agenda”) is current through October 2020.  The Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions contains the Regulatory Plans of 28 federal agencies and 68 federal agency regulatory agendas. The Agenda is published twice a year, and for several years I have blogged about each publication.

Like the prior Agendas, the Fall 2020 Agenda is broken down by (i) “Pre-rule Stage”; (ii) Proposed Rule Stage; (iii) Final Rule Stage; and (iv) Long-term Actions.  The Proposed and Final Rule Stages are intended to be completed within the next 12 months and Long-term Actions are anything beyond that.  The number of items to be completed in a 12-month time frame is down to 32 items.  The Spring Agenda had 42 and the Fall 2019 had 47 on the list.

Items on the Agenda can move from one category to

Annual Report of Office of Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation

The Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation (“Office”) issued its 2020 Annual Report and it breaks down one of the strangest years in any of our lives, into facts and figures that continue to illustrate the resilience of the U.S. capital markets.  Although the report is for fiscal year end September 30, 2020, prior to much of the impact of Covid-19, the Office supplemented the Report with initial Covid-19 impact information.

Background on Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation

The SEC’s Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation launched in January 2019 after being created by Congress pursuant to the Small Business Advocate Act of 2016 (see HERE).  One of the core tenants of the Office is recognizing that small businesses are job creators, generators of economic opportunity and fundamental to the growth of the country, a drum I often beat.

The Office has the following functions: (i) assist small businesses

Section 12(g) Registration

Unlike a Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”) registration statement, a Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) Section 12(g) registration statement does not register securities for sale or result in any particular securities becoming freely tradeable.  Rather, an Exchange Act registration has the general effect of making a company subject to the Exchange Act reporting requirements under Section 13 of that Act.  Registration also subjects the company to the tender offer and proxy rules under Section 14 of the Act, its officers, directors and 10%-or-greater shareholders to the reporting requirements and short-term profit prohibitions under Section 16 of the Act and its 5%-or-greater shareholders to the reporting requirements under Sections 13(d) and 13(g) of the Act.

A company may voluntarily register under Section 12(g) at any time and, under certain circumstances, may also terminate such registration (see HERE).

In addition, unless an exemption is otherwise available, a company must register under Section 12(g), if as of the

Finders – Part 3

Following the SEC’s proposed conditional exemption for finders (see HERE), I’ve been writing a series of blogs on the topic of finders.  New York recently proposed, then failed to adopt a new finder’s regulatory regime.  California and Texas remain the only two states with such allowing finders for intra-state offerings.   Also, a question that has arisen several times recently is whether an unregistered person can assist a U.S. company in capital raising transactions outside the U.S. under Regulation S, which I addressed in the second blog in this series (see HERE).  This blog will discuss the New York, California and Texas rules.

New York

On December 1, 2020, the state of New York adopted an overhaul to some of its securities laws including modernizing registration and filing requirements with the Investor Protection Bureau and the Office of the Attorney General.  Although the proposed rules would have adopted a new definition of “finder” and required licensing and examinations

SEC Final Rule Changes For Exempt Offerings – Part 5

On November 2, 2020, the SEC adopted final rule changes to harmonize, simplify and improve the exempt offering framework.  The new rules go into effect on March 14, 2021. The 388-page rule release provides a comprehensive overhaul to the exempt offering and integration rules worthy of in-depth discussion.  As such, like the proposed rules, I am breaking it down over a series of blogs with this final blog discussing the changes to Regulation Crowdfunding.  The first blog in the series discussed the new integration rules (see HERE).  The second blog in the series covered offering communications (see HERE).  The third blog focuses on amendments to Rule 504, Rule 506(b) and 506(c) of Regulation D (see HERE).   The fourth blog in the series reviews the changes to Regulation A (see HERE).

Current Exemption Framework

The Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”) requires that every offer and sale of securities either be registered with the SEC or exempt

SEC Final Rule Changes For Exempt Offerings – Part 4

On November 2, 2020, the SEC adopted final rule changes to harmonize, simplify and improve the exempt offering framework.  The new rules go into effect on March 14, 2021. The 388-page rule release provides a comprehensive overhaul to the exempt offering and integration rules worthy of in-depth discussion.  As such, like the proposed rules, I am breaking it down over a series of blogs with this fourth blog discussing the changes to Regulation A.  The first blog in the series discussed the new integration rules (see HERE).  The second blog in the series covered offering communications (see HERE).  The third blog focuses on amendments to Rule 504, Rule 506(b) and 506(c) of Regulation D (see HERE.

Background; Current Exemption Framework

The Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”) requires that every offer and sale of securities either be registered with the SEC or exempt from registration.  Offering exemptions are found in Sections 3 and 4 of the

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