Although the SEC recently finalized rules that will remove the ban on general solicitation and advertising for certain private offerings under Rule 506 of Regulation D, it does not mean that issuers will have free reign and complete discretion over their use of advertisements. That is, issuers looking to locate potential investors through advertising after the new rules become effective in September may still be subject to other laws that will restrict the manner in which they advertise or solicit investments.
For example as Keith Bishop over at the California Corporate & Securities Law Blog points out in a recent post that certain other state laws may be implicated with these types of advertisements. According to the post, in California, Rule 260.302 of the California Code of Regulations states, in part, that:
An advertisement should not contain any statement or inference that an investment in the security is safe, or that continuation of earnings or dividends is assured, or that failure, loss, or default is impossible or unlikely.”
Thus, it is possible that states could use advertising laws and regulations to regulate, to some extent, private offerings under the new Rule 506. However, the question remains, as to how far these types of state laws and regulations can go? The answer to this question is
Continue Reading Removal of ban on general solicitation and advertising won’t be a license for issuers to say anything they want