As I have for many years, last week I attended the SEC's annual business conference on smaller companies in our nation's capital. Always love my trips to DC- I especially liked when my breakfast waiter called me Senator (flattery gets you a good tip)! Now...
While not attracting the glitzy headlines they once did, special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have surged strongly in the last few years. These public shell companies raise substantial amounts of cash in anticipation of a merger with a private business needing the cash and a...
Last week the SEC announced it is allowing the national securities exchanges to wait until October 2016 to implement its highly vaunted tick size pilot program. Originally the plan was to commence in May, but the SEC feels the exchanges (and FINRA) need more time...
As we know, the new Regulation A+ rules passed by the SEC preempt state review of public offerings under its newly designed Tier II for offerings up to $50 million. States still can, however, require a "notice filing" of the offering materials, much as is...
As we still await the first completed Tier II Regulation A public offering, and rumors are swirling that several are getting close, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which regulates broker-dealers, has confirmed what most already know. In a release a few weeks ago, they...
The big guys get hit and sanctioned for improper activity in the securities world. Big banks and investment banks all pay for misdeeds, some callously viewing it as simply a cost of doing business. The Enron and WorldCom scandals, among others, taught us that big...
As reported by Crowdfund Insider, Massachusetts and Montana filed their first "Opening Brief" in their case against the SEC trying to invalidate the regulations passed under Regulation A pursuant to the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act of 2012. Essentially, they say the SEC overstepped its...
My fellow Wharton grad Marty Lipton, the scion of venerable M&A law firm Wachtell Lipton and inventor of the poison pill, is adding to the drumbeat of folks suggesting that quarterly reporting by public companies might be bad. Why? Because it forces companies to focus...
Last week the US Securities and Exchange Commission issued an "investor bulletin" about its amendments to Regulation A made under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act of 2012. The introduction to the bulletin makes clear the changes were made "to enhance the ability of...
On the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, William Galvin, the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (pictured above), filed a petition in Washington DC against the SEC requesting that the court stop the implementation and enforcement of the SEC's changes to Regulation A. They are...