Today, February 7, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee will host a meeting to discuss several matters. The Committee will discuss alternatives to traditional bank and venture capital funding for small and mid-size private companies. Next, the Committee will discuss rules and amendments first proposed in February 2022 pertaining
Smaller Reporting Companies
Redrawing the Lines Between Private and Public
Commissioner Crenshaw’s remarks on January 30, 2023, once again, touched on Regulation D and the private markets. It is understandable that, given companies in the United States have become increasingly reliant on private capital to fuel their growth, a regulator would seek to focus on the private markets. The “how did we get here” part…
2022 Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation Report Presents Interesting Data on the Capital Markets
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation issued on December 16, 2022 its 2022 Annual Report to the U.S. Congress and to the SEC detailing how entrepreneurs, investors, and private and smaller public companies are engaging in capital raising. The Report provides a wealth of data from the…
SEC Votes to Adopt Amendments to Rule 10b5-1 and Related Disclosure Amendments
At today’s open meeting, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted to approve amendments to Rule 10b5-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The SEC had proposed extensive amendments in January 2022, which were the subject of significant comment from market participants. The final amendments take into account some of the commenters’ concerns—in particular by…
Republicans’ Capital Formation Agenda
At the end of September 2022, Patrick McHenry, the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, released the Committee Republicans’ capital formation agenda. The capital formation agenda aims to build on the successes of the JOBS Act in a number of important areas, which are summarized below.
Strengthening Public Markets. The Committee Republicans would…
41st Annual Small Business Forum
Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) released its report to Congress summarizing the principal policy recommendations made at the 41st Annual Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation (the “Small Business Forum”). The Small Business Forum was led by the SEC’s Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation in cooperation with…
Trends in Capital Formation: The SEC’s OASB Annual Report
The SEC’s Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation (“OASB”) recently issued its 2021 Annual Report (the “Report”), which reviews the capital raising activities of a variety of companies, from startups and emerging businesses to smaller public companies. The OASB, together with the SEC’s Division of Economic and Risk Analysis, provided updated data…
SEC Announces Dates for 40th Annual Small Business Forum
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced it will hold its 40th Annual Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation virtually from May 24 – 27, 2021. The Forum, hosted by the SEC’s Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation, will take place over four days and will feature a number of topics. …
Annual Report of the Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation recently delivered its annual report for FY2020 to the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs of the US Senate and the Committee on Financial Services of the US House of Representatives, as required under the Securities Exchange Act. The report…
Legal Update: U.S. Federal Reserve Launches Main Street Lending Program by Opening Lender Registration and Updates Loan and Participation Documentation
On June 15, 2020, the Federal Reserve launched the highly anticipated Main Street Lending Program by announcing that the program is open for lender registration and encouraged lenders to begin making program loans to small and medium-sized businesses immediately. Participation by the Federal Reserve is expected to begin “soon.” This follows the release of updated…