In this Lexis Practice Advisor® Practice Note, we discuss the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) proposed rule that would expand the permitted use of “testing-the-waters” communications from emerging growth companies (EGCs) only to all issuers, regardless of size or reporting status. Proposed by the SEC on February 19, 2019, Rule 163B under the Securities

Since the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act was enacted in 2012, emerging growth companies (EGCs) have benefited from the opportunity to test the waters with investors and gauge interest in a potential offering. Title I of the JOBS Act amended Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933 (the Securities Act) in order to

The Securities and Exchange Commission took the long-awaited step of proposing rules for comment that would extend the ability to test the waters beyond emerging growth companies, or EGCs.  This topic, of extending the test the waters communications, had been the subject of proposed legislation in the last session of Congress and had made its

In November 2018, SIFMA published another primer in its recently introduced series on capital formation–this one titled “An exploration of the IPO process and listings exchanges”. The primer provides interesting statistics on IPO trends.

The primer notes the decline in the number of US listed companies.  The number of listed companies peaked in 1996 at

A recent E&Y report notes strong IPO activity in the first nine months of 2018, with 166 completed IPOs, which raised $44.4 billion.  This compares to 179 for the full year in 2017, which raised $40.4 billion.  AXA Equitable Holdings was the largest IPO of the first nine months of 2018.  For the first nine

Since the financial crisis, the IPO market has been somewhat volatile, but in the last few quarters, the market has shown growth. A recent Audit Analytics report notes a number of factors that may contribute to the relatively slow rate of growth of the IPO market, including the abundant availability of private capital (both equity

Even before the Trump tweet, discussions regarding interim reporting requirements for U.S. public companies had been ongoing for several years.  In fact, going back to 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies considered the advantages and disadvantages associated with discontinuing quarterly reporting.  In 2016, the Director of the Commission’s

A number of capital formation-related bills passed in the House this week with bipartisan support.  These include:

  • H.R. 5877, the “Main Street Growth Act,” sponsored by Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), which would amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to allow for the registration of venture exchanges with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
  • H.R. 5970,

There are a number of legislative proposals making their way through the House, including: H.R. 5054, the Small Company Disclosure Simplification Act of 2018, which provides EGCs and smaller reporting companies an exemption from xBRL requirements (referred to in our prior blog post), H.R. 6035, the Streamlining Communications for Investors Act, which is a