July 2013

Advertising rules may still limit selling securitiesAlthough 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

Nominate The Securities Edge for Blawg 100Dear Readers,

The ABA Journal is soliciting nominations for law blogs to include in their 7th Annual Blawg 100.   Essentially, the American Bar Association puts together a list each year to honor the legal blogs that have the most impact.  If you like what you read on our blog, we are asking you to consider

506 offerings to raise moneyThe SEC issued Final Rules last week that effectively eliminate the ban on the use of general solicitation and general advertising in connection with certain securities offerings performed under Rule 506 of Regulation D. This is a major shift that will allow issuers to use general solicitation and advertising to promote certain private securities offerings. Rule 506 is widely used by many startup and early stage companies to provide a safe harbor from registration under the 1933 Act. The elimination of this ban should have very positive effects for startup and early stage companies. Hopefully it will facilitate capital raising for these companies and thus begin to allow some of the long-awaited positive impacts that we all expected from the JOBS Act. These Final Rules will become effective in mid-September of this year.

The SEC also issued a Press Release and a Fact Sheet that contain helpful information on the Final Rules.

These Final Rules provide amendments to Rule 506 and Rule 144A under the 1933 Act. I will focus on the Rule 506 amendments since they are most relevant to startup and early stage company financing situations. These Rule 506 amendments allow an issuer to engage in general solicitation and advertising in connection with the offering and sale of securities under Rule 506 provided that all purchasers of the securities are accredited investors under the Rule 501 standards and that the issuer takes “reasonable steps” to verify each investor’s accredited investor status. The Rule 506 amendments provide a non-exclusive list of methods that issuers can use to verify the accredited investor status of natural persons. These amendments also amend Form D to require issuers to tell the SEC whether they are relying on the provision that permits general solicitation and advertising in a Rule 506 offering. The Final Rules also contain some very interesting economic and statistical data on Rule 506 offerings and participation by accredited investors.

In a related development, the SEC issued a Final Rule on July 10, 2013 that amended
Continue Reading By removing ban on general solicitation SEC finally moves the JOBS Act forward

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), enacted to deter bribery and other corrupt practices in the conduct of international business, originally claimed jurisdiction over U.S. companies and individuals who used the mail or other instrumentalities of interstate commerce to further a bribe.  A 1998 amendment, however, expanded the FCPA’s jurisdictional reach to include, among others, “issuers” of securities listed on U.S. exchanges (including foreign companies so listed).  Thus, as businesses strategize to capitalize on the increasingly global market, those with securities issued in the United States must make sure to stay in compliance with the FCPA.  If companies like Walmart, Ralph Lauren and Tyco International weren’t doing so before, they certainly are now.

So what is the FCPA and what conduct does it proscribe? Well, the FCPA has two separate and distinct prohibitions.  First, the FCPA’s “anti-bribery provisions” prohibit the offer, promise, or payment of “anything of value” to a “foreign official” in order to “obtain or retain business.” Importantly, the FCPA covers payments to consults, agents, and any other intermediaries or representatives when the party making the payment knows, or has reason to believe, that some part of the payment will be used to bribe or influence a foreign official.

Second, the FCPA’s “books and records” provision imposes affirmative duties on issuers to maintain accurate books and a system of internal controls, and prohibits behavior intended to conceal an issuer’s lack of compliance with these duties.  Essentially, issuers must maintain books that accurately and fairly reflect their transactions and disposition of assets, and must have internal accounting controls adequate to provide reasonable assurance of the integrity of the company’s financial systems and its disclosures.

In the last few years, FCPA enforcement has been on the rise as the SEC and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), the agencies charged with enforcing the FCPA, have
Continue Reading Continued increased enforcement of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) shift toward financial services industry