SEC Issues Final Rules Implementing The JOBS ACT And Rules On The FAST ACT
On May 3, 2016, the SEC issued final amendments to revise the rules related to the thresholds for registrations, termination of registration, and suspension of reporting under Section 12(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The amendments mark the final rule making and implementation of all provisions under the JOBS Act, and implement further provisions under the FAST Act.
The amendments revise the Section 12(g) and 15(d) rules to reflect the new, higher shareholder thresholds for triggering registration requirements and for allowing the voluntary termination of registration or suspension of reporting obligations. The new rules also make similar changes related to banks, bank holding companies, and savings and loan companies.
Specifically, the SEC has amended Exchange Act Rules 12g-1 through 12g-4 and 12h-3 related to the procedures for termination of registration under Section 12(g) through the filing of a Form 15 and for suspension of reporting obligations under Section 15(d), to reflect the higher thresholds set by the JOBS Act. The SEC also made clarifying amendments to: (i) cross-reference the definition of “accredited investor” found in rule 501 of Regulation D, with the Section 12(g) registration requirements; (ii) add the date for making the registration determination (last day of fiscal year-end); and (iii) amend the definition of “held of record” to exclude persons who received shares under certain employee compensation plans.
The new rules were initially proposed on December 18, 2015. A few days before the proposed rules were issued, on December 4, 2015, the FAST Act was enacted into law, including provisions implementing the revised thresholds for savings and loan holding companies, effective immediately without further action by the SEC. Despite this overlap, the SEC has now cleaned up all the provisions, thus aligning the rules with the statutory requirements.
Following the final implementation of the relevant JOBS Act and FAST Act provisions, a company that is not a bank, bank holding company or savings and loan holding company is required to register under Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act if, as of the last day of its most recent fiscal year-end, it has more than $10 million in assets and securities that are held of record by more than 2,000 persons, or 500 persons that are not accredited. The same thresholds apply to termination of registration and suspension of reporting obligations. As discussed below, determining which shareholders are accredited as of the last day of a fiscal year-end can be difficult.
A company that is a bank, bank holding company or savings and loan holding company is required to register under Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act if it has more than $10 million in assets and securities that are held of record by more than 2,000 persons and is allowed to terminate or suspend registration if its securities are held of record by fewer than 1,200 persons.
Registration, Termination of Registration and Suspension of Reporting Obligations
The JOBS Act amended Sections 12(g) and 15(d) of the Exchange Act to adjust the thresholds for registration, termination of registration and suspension of reporting. Prior to enactment of the JOBS Act on April 5, 2012, the Exchange Act required companies with greater than $10 million in total assets and greater than 500 record holders of any class of equity security to register and file periodic reports with the SEC. This requirement was burdensome for companies aspiring to raise capital and grow but that were not yet ready to become publicly reporting.
Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act and the rules promulgated thereunder allowed a company to deregister and relieve itself of the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act if it has fewer than 300 shareholders, or fewer than 500 shareholders and less than $10 million of assets.
Non-bank, Bank Holding Company and Saving and Loan Holding Company Issuers
Title V and Title VI of The JOBS Act amended Section 12(g) and Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Section 501 of Title V amended Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act to increase the “holders of record” threshold for triggering Section 12(g) registration for issuers with total assets of more than $10 million (other than banks and bank holding companies) from 500 or more persons to either (i) 2,000 or more persons or (ii) 500 or more persons who are not accredited investors. Issuers are required to register within 120 days after its fiscal year-end, if on the day of such fiscal year-end, it meets these thresholds.
Although Section 501 went effective upon passage of the JOBS Act, the automatic amendments did not include a change to the deregistration provisions under Section 12(g). Accordingly, since April 2012, a company would not be required to register until it had 2,000 shareholders of record or 500 or more persons who are not accredited investors, but could not deregister unless it had fewer than 300 shareholders, or 500 shareholders for those companies with less than $10 million in assets.
The new rules have now aligned the right to terminate registration or suspend reporting obligations with the higher threshold amounts.
With the passage of the new rules, together with all the JOBS Act rules enacted previously, a company is not required to register a class of securities under Section 12(g) if, on the last day of its most recent fiscal year: (i) the company has total assets not exceeding $10 million; or (ii) the class of securities is held of record by fewer than 2,000 persons or 500 persons that are not accredited as defined in Securities Act rule 501.
Bank, Bank Holding Company and Saving and Loan Holding Company Issuers
Section 601 of the JOBS Act amended Section 12(g) to increase the total assets to $10 million and the holders of record threshold for triggering registration for banks and bank holding companies, as such term is defined in the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as of any fiscal year-end after April 5, 2012, from 300 or more persons to 2,000 or more persons. Similarly, Section 601 of the JOBS Act amended Sections 12 and 15 of the Exchange Act to increase the holders of record threshold for deregistration and suspension of reporting obligations for banks and bank holding companies from 300 to 1,200 persons.
Following enactment of the JOBS Act, regulators realized that the Section 601 provisions had inadvertently left out saving and loan holding companies from the new registration and deregistration threshold changes. Accordingly, both the SEC through rule making, and the legislature through the FAST Act, have implemented changes to correct the oversight and include saving and loan holding companies in these changes. Following implementation of the FAST Act, the SEC also issued guidance through Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (C&DI) to help clarify the provisions. My blog on that guidance can be read HERE.
The new rules clean up the procedures and timing of termination of registration for banks, bank holding companies and savings and loan holding companies as well such that these entities may immediately terminate registration upon the filing of a Form 15 rather than the existing procedures, which required the entities to wait 90 days after filing the Form 15 to be relieved of their obligations. Similarly, the existing procedures only allowed for the suspension of reporting obligations at the beginning of a fiscal year. The new rules allow banks, bank holding companies and savings and loan holding companies to suspend reporting obligations, effective immediately, at any time during the year by filing a Form 15, as long as they meet the thresholds for such suspension.
Application of the Increased Threshold for Accredited Investors
Knowing whether an investor or shareholder is accredited has always been a basic premise in determining the availability of an exemption from the registration requirements and the disclosure delivery requirements applicable to such an exemption. The new registration and deregistration thresholds now extend the importance and timing of knowing the accredited status of shareholders beyond what was ever previously required.
Identifying accredited investors for purposes of the registration, and especially deregistration, requirements could be problematic. Suggestions in this regard included: (i) allowing issuers to rely on annual affirmations from record shareholders; (ii) reliance on information obtained at the time of an initial investment or most recent sale of securities to such investor; or (iii) third-party verification.
The new rules rely on the current definition of “accredited investor” enumerated in Securities Act Rule 501(a) and require that the “accredited investor” determination be made as of the last day of the fiscal year rather than at the time of the sale of securities. This provides a dramatic change for issuers who currently have no obligations to assess accredited status after a sale of securities is completed.
In rejecting the ability to unilaterally rely on representations made at the time of a sale of securities to a particular investor, the SEC expressed concern regarding the use of outdated, unreliable information. Instead, an issuer will need to determine, based on facts and circumstances, whether it can rely upon prior information to form a reasonable basis for believing that the security holder continues to be an accredited investor as of the last day of the fiscal year.
The new rule requires the company to have a reasonable belief as to whether a shareholder is accredited. The SEC is leaving it to the discretion of the company to determine, based on facts and circumstances, whether it has a reasonable belief that a shareholder is accredited or not. A company is not precluded from relying on prior information if it has a reasonable belief that such information is still accurate, such as based on the close proximity to the time of sale. The SEC notes that sale information can be years or even decades old, in which case the issuer could not, of course, rely on such prior information.
However, this begs the practicality question of how exactly that issue will gain the information. The SEC declined to offer guidance, establish a safe harbor, or otherwise provide any assistance to companies in this regard.
It seems to me that issuers will now need to obtain contractual agreements from investors to provide updated representations; however, determining fair and reasonable consequences for a breach of such an agreement is problematic. Direct damages will be hard to determine. I doubt an issuer could claim that the shareholders’ refusal to provide updated information results in the issuer having to register, or continue reporting, and seek damages in the amount of reporting costs. Likewise, investors will balk at consequences directed toward their share ownership, such as a restriction on voting or dividend rights, though remedies along these lines seem the most workable.
As the proliferation of rules centered on a distinction between accredited and non-accredited investors continues, the definition of accreditation has become the subject of much debate and the SEC is considering, and ultimately will implement, changes to the definition. For further reading on the definition of accredited investor, see my blog HERE.
Employee Compensation Plans; Determining Holders of Record
The new rules establish a non-exclusive safe harbor that companies may follow to exclude persons who received securities pursuant to employee compensation plans when calculating the shareholders of record for purposes of triggering the registration requirements under Section 12(g). Exchange Act Section 12(g)(5) as amended of the JOBS Act provides that the definition of “held of record” shall not include securities held by persons who received them pursuant to an “employee compensation plan” in exempt transactions. By its express terms, this new statutory exclusion applies solely for purposes of determining whether an issuer is required to register a class of equity securities under the Exchange Act and does not apply to a determination of whether such registration may be terminated or suspended.
The new rule implements the JOBS Act by establishing a statutory exclusion for security holders who received their stock in unregistered employee stock compensation plans, and provides a safe harbor for determining whether holders of their securities received them pursuant to an employee compensation plan in exempt transactions.
The SEC declines to add a new definition of “employee compensation plan”; rather, the SEC incorporates Rule 701(c) and the guidance under that rule for issuers to rely on in their Section 12(g) analysis. The proposed safe harbor allows an issuer to conclude that shares were issued pursuant to an employee compensation plan in an unregistered transaction as long as all the conditions of Rule 701(c) are met, even if other requirements of Rule 701, such as 701 (b) (volume limitations) or 701(d) (disclosure delivery requirements) are not met.
The new Rule amends the definition of “held of record” such that for purposes of Section 12(g), an issuer may exclude securities that are either:
held by persons who received the securities pursuant to an employee compensation plan in transactions exempt from, or not subject to, the registration requirements of Section 5 of the Securities Act or that did not involve a sale within the meaning of Section 2(a)(3) of the Securities Act; or
held by persons who received the securities in a transaction exempt from, or not subject to, the registration requirements of Section 5 from the issuer, a predecessor of the issuer or an acquired company, as long as the persons were eligible to receive securities pursuant to Rule 701(c) at the time the excludable securities were originally issued to them.
The SEC also excludes securities issued under the “no-sale” exemption to registration theory from the “held of record” definition, including shares issued as a dividend to employees. That is, the SEC is excluding securities that did not involve a sale within the meaning of Section 2(a)(3), as well as exempt securities issued under Section 3 of the Securities Act. Examples of securities issued under Section 3 include exchange securities under sections 3(a)(9) and 3(a)(10).
The new rules are meant to encompass securities issued in exchange for or related to business combination transactions, as long as the employee or former employee was eligible to receive the securities under Rule 701(c) at the time of original issuance.
The new rules related to determining securities “held of record,” including both determinations of accredited investors and shareholders that have received shares under employee compensation plans, are complicated and will require meticulous record keeping, chains of title, and follow-up. I imagine that either transfer agents or separate third-party service providers will need to offer tracing services to assist companies in maintaining these records and meeting their registration requirements.
The Author
Laura Anthony, Esq.
Founding Partner
Legal & Compliance, LLC
Corporate, Securities and Going Public Attorneys
LAnthony@LegalAndCompliance.com
Securities attorney Laura Anthony and her experienced legal team provides ongoing corporate counsel to small and mid-size private companies, OTC and exchange traded issuers as well as private companies going public on the NASDAQ, NYSE MKT or over-the-counter market, such as the OTCQB and OTCQX. For nearly two decades Legal & Compliance, LLC has served clients providing fast, personalized, cutting-edge legal service. The firm’s reputation and relationships provide invaluable resources to clients including introductions to investment bankers, broker dealers, institutional investors and other strategic alliances. The firm’s focus includes, but is not limited to, compliance with the Securities Act of 1933 offer sale and registration requirements, including private placement transactions under Regulation D and Regulation S and PIPE Transactions as well as registration statements on Forms S-1, S-8 and S-4; compliance with the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including registration on Form 10, reporting on Forms 10-Q, 10-K and 8-K, and 14C Information and 14A Proxy Statements; Regulation A/A+ offerings; all forms of going public transactions; mergers and acquisitions including both reverse mergers and forward mergers, ; applications to and compliance with the corporate governance requirements of securities exchanges including NASDAQ and NYSE MKT; crowdfunding; corporate; and general contract and business transactions. Moreover, Ms. Anthony and her firm represents both target and acquiring companies in reverse mergers and forward mergers, including the preparation of transaction documents such as merger agreements, share exchange agreements, stock purchase agreements, asset purchase agreements and reorganization agreements. Ms. Anthony’s legal team prepares the necessary documentation and assists in completing the requirements of federal and state securities laws and SROs such as FINRA and DTC for 15c2-11 applications, corporate name changes, reverse and forward splits and changes of domicile. Ms. Anthony is also the author of SecuritiesLawBlog.com, the OTC Market’s top source for industry news, and the producer and host of LawCast.com, the securities law network. In addition to many other major metropolitan areas, the firm currently represents clients in New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Atlanta, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Washington, D.C., Denver, Tampa, Detroit and Dallas.
Contact Legal & Compliance LLC. Technical inquiries are always encouraged.
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Legal & Compliance, LLC makes this general information available for educational purposes only. The information is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice. Furthermore, the use of this information, and the sending or receipt of this information, does not create or constitute an attorney-client relationship between us. Therefore, your communication with us via this information in any form will not be considered as privileged or confidential.
This information is not intended to be advertising, and Legal & Compliance, LLC does not desire to represent anyone desiring representation based upon viewing this information in a jurisdiction where this information fails to comply with all laws and ethical rules of that jurisdiction. This information may only be reproduced in its entirety (without modification) for the individual reader’s personal and/or educational use and must include this notice.
© Legal & Compliance, LLC 2016
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SEC Gives Insight On 2016 Initiatives
SEC Chair Mary Jo White gave a speech at the annual mid-February SEC Speaks program and, as usual, gave some insight into the SEC’s focus in the coming year. This blog summarized Chair White’s speech and provides further insight and information on the topics she addresses.
Consistent with her prior messages, Chair White focuses on enforcement, stating that the SEC “needs to go beyond disclosure” in carrying out its mission. That mission, as articulated by Chair White, is the protection of investors, maintaining fair, orderly and efficient markets, and facilitating capital formation. In 2015 the SEC brought a record number of enforcement proceedings and secured an all-time high for penalty and disgorgement orders. The primary areas of focus included cybersecurity, market structure requirements, dark pools, microcap fraud, financial reporting failures, insider trading, disclosure deficiencies in municipal offerings and protection of retail investors and retiree savings. In 2016 the SEC intends to focus enforcement on financial reporting, market structure, and the structuring, disclosure and sales of complex financial instruments.
2016 Disclosure Agenda
Chair White hit on the tremendous volume of regulatory changes and congressional mandates. Since 2010 Congress has given the SEC nearly 100 statutory mandates covering a multitude of complex rule requirements, with the FAST Act, JOBS Act, and the Dodd-Frank Act just being 3 examples. White confirms that the amount of recent rulemaking is of historic proportions, completing or overhauling many regulatory areas and providing dramatic changes to others. Again, 3 small examples are the FAST Act, JOBS Act and the Dodd-Frank Act, with the multitude of regulatory changes flowing from these 3 statutory directives.
In 2016 the SEC will continue implementing rules as directed by Congress. In addition to finalizing the remaining security swap and security-based swap dealer requirements under the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC hopes to continue rulemaking related to the asset management industry, the structure of the equity markets and disclosure requirements (under Regulation S-K and Regulation S-X).
Related to the asset management industry, in May 2015 the SEC proposed increased reporting for investment advisers and mutual funds, including a requirement that funds report risk metrics, the use of derivatives, securities lending and liquidity of holdings.
Related to the structure of equity markets, the SEC has increased oversight over proprietary traders (see my blog HERE) and has proposed major revisions to regulations for alternative trading systems (this will be the subject of a future blog). Also related to equity markets, Chair White referenced the recent ANPR on new transfer agent rules (see my blog HERE) and the Tick Size Pilot program (see my blog HERE). Moreover, Chair White revealed that the SEC intends to shorten the clearing settlement life cycle from T+3 to T+2.
Disclosure effectiveness has been an ongoing central topic since the JOBS Act required the SEC to launch its Disclosure Effectiveness Initiative. The SEC intends to continue its focus in this arena and expects both additional rulemaking and industry guidance in 2016.
I have written several times on the SEC initiative and the subject of improving the disclosure requirements for reporting companies. Recently the SEC sought comment on financial disclosure requirements for subsidiaries and affiliate entities (see my blog HERE). Moreover, several of the provisions in the recent FAST Act were related to these initiatives. In particular, The FAST Act adopted many of the provisions of a bill titled the Disclosure Modernization and Simplification Act, including rules to: (i) allow issuers to include a summary page to Form 10-K (Section 72001); and (ii) scale or eliminate duplicative, antiquated or unnecessary requirements for EGCs, accelerated filers, smaller reporting companies and other smaller issuers in Regulation S-K (Section 72002). In addition, the SEC is required to conduct yet another study on all Regulation S-K disclosure requirements to determine how best to amend and modernize the rules to reduce costs and burdens while still providing all material information (Section 72003). See my blog on the FAST Act and these provisions HERE.
In September 2015, the SEC Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies (the “Advisory Committee”) met and finalized its recommendation to the SEC regarding changes to the disclosure requirements for smaller publicly traded companies. My blog on these recommendations can be read HERE.
Prior to that, in March 2015, the American Bar Association submitted its second comment letter to the SEC making recommendations for changes to Regulation S-K. For a review of these recommendations, see my blog HERE.
Mission and Philosophy
Chair White made a point of conveying the message that the SEC is not just about disclosure. They have broad regulatory authority over trading markets, broker-dealers, SRO’s, the settlement and clearing process and the PCAOB. The SEC intends to continue to work in each of these areas, including additional regulations on the swaps markets, clearing agencies, transfer agents, and technology systems. In addition, the SEC has and will continue to seek public comment on proposed rules, ideas related to proposed rules, and concepts in general. As Chair White states, “[W]e are therefore increasingly considering using measures beyond disclosure to fulfill our mission of providing strong investor protection, safeguarding market integrity, and achieving other regulatory objectives.”
The Author
Laura Anthony, Esq.
Founding Partner
Legal & Compliance, LLC
Corporate, Securities and Going Public Attorneys
LAnthony@LegalAndCompliance.com
Securities attorney Laura Anthony and her experienced legal team provides ongoing corporate counsel to small and mid-size private companies, OTC and exchange traded issuers as well as private companies going public on the NASDAQ, NYSE MKT or over-the-counter market, such as the OTCQB and OTCQX. For nearly two decades Legal & Compliance, LLC has served clients providing fast, personalized, cutting-edge legal service. The firm’s reputation and relationships provide invaluable resources to clients including introductions to investment bankers, broker dealers, institutional investors and other strategic alliances. The firm’s focus includes, but is not limited to, compliance with the Securities Act of 1933 offer sale and registration requirements, including private placement transactions under Regulation D and Regulation S and PIPE Transactions as well as registration statements on Forms S-1, S-8 and S-4; compliance with the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including registration on Form 10, reporting on Forms 10-Q, 10-K and 8-K, and 14C Information and 14A Proxy Statements; Regulation A/A+ offerings; all forms of going public transactions; mergers and acquisitions including both reverse mergers and forward mergers, ; applications to and compliance with the corporate governance requirements of securities exchanges including NASDAQ and NYSE MKT; crowdfunding; corporate; and general contract and business transactions. Moreover, Ms. Anthony and her firm represents both target and acquiring companies in reverse mergers and forward mergers, including the preparation of transaction documents such as merger agreements, share exchange agreements, stock purchase agreements, asset purchase agreements and reorganization agreements. Ms. Anthony’s legal team prepares the necessary documentation and assists in completing the requirements of federal and state securities laws and SROs such as FINRA and DTC for 15c2-11 applications, corporate name changes, reverse and forward splits and changes of domicile. Ms. Anthony is also the author of SecuritiesLawBlog.com, the OTC Market’s top source for industry news, and the producer and host of LawCast.com, the securities law network. In addition to many other major metropolitan areas, the firm currently represents clients in New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Atlanta, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Washington, D.C., Denver, Tampa, Detroit and Dallas.
Contact Legal & Compliance LLC. Technical inquiries are always encouraged.
Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, Pinterest and Twitter.
Download our mobile app at iTunes.
Legal & Compliance, LLC makes this general information available for educational purposes only. The information is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice. Furthermore, the use of this information, and the sending or receipt of this information, does not create or constitute an attorney-client relationship between us. Therefore, your communication with us via this information in any form will not be considered as privileged or confidential.
This information is not intended to be advertising, and Legal & Compliance, LLC does not desire to represent anyone desiring representation based upon viewing this information in a jurisdiction where this information fails to comply with all laws and ethical rules of that jurisdiction. This information may only be reproduced in its entirety (without modification) for the individual reader’s personal and/or educational use and must include this notice.
© Legal & Compliance, LLC 2016
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