In December of last year, Nasdaq proposed a rule change to modify the initial listing requirements related to liquidity. More specifically, Nasdaq proposed to change Listing Rules 5405 and 5505 to require that a company...more
Yesterday, the SEC announced that Corp Fin was “further facilitating capital formation by enhancing the accommodations available to companies for nonpublic review of draft registration statements.” You might recall that, in...more
Yesterday, Acting SEC Chair Mark Uyeda delivered remarks to the Florida Bar’s 41st Annual Federal Securities Institute and M&A Conference focused on regulatory efforts affecting every stage of a company’s lifecycle. Setting...more
In this settled action, In the Matter of Elanco Animal Health, Inc., Elanco, a manufacturer and seller of animal health products, such as flea and tick medications, was charged with “failure to disclose material information...more
The 2012 JOBS Act permitted Emerging Growth Companies to initiate the IPO process by submitting their IPO registration statements confidentially to the SEC for nonpublic review by the SEC staff. The confidential process was...more
The SEC has announced settled charges against Zymergen, which, prior to its recent bankruptcy and ultimate liquidation, was a biotech “focused on the manufacture of novel materials, including optical films used in electronic...more
In May, Nasdaq proposed to revise some of its corporate governance rules—specifically Rules 5605, 5615 and 5810—to modify the phase-in schedules for the independent director and committee requirements in connection with a...more
Nasdaq has just filed a proposal, Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change to Amend Certain Procedures Related to the Suspension and Delisting of Acquisition Companies, designed to address the...more
The 2012 JOBS Act permitted Emerging Growth Companies to initiate the IPO process by submitting their IPO registration statements confidentially to the SEC for nonpublic review by the SEC staff. The confidential process was...more
Nasdaq has proposed to modify some of its corporate governance rules—specifically Rules 5605, 5615 and 5810—to modify the phase-in schedules for the independent director and committee requirements in connection with IPOs,...more
Perfectly calibrated to slap an exclamation point on last Wednesday’s 581-page SPAC release (see this PubCo post), this new SEC Order, posted the following day, reflects settled charges against Northern Star Investment Corp....more
Recently, SPACs seem to have lost much of their allure, but why? Certainly there are multiple reasons related to the capital markets, but one reason may have been the anxiety of many SPAC proponents precipitated by the...more
Recently, at a meeting of the SEC’s Small Business Advisory Committee, a panel provided an update on the state of play of the IPO market. While IPO activity—traditional IPOs, SPACs and direct listings—was off-the-charts in...more
On Friday, the SEC’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee held a virtual meeting to discuss two of the SEC’s recent rulemaking initiatives: climate disclosure and SPACs, particularly as those proposals, if...more
“Statement Regarding SPAC Matter,” is the latest from SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce. Seems completely anodyne, doesn’t it? But, as they say, looks can be deceiving. Instead, it’s a withering criticism of the SEC’s failure...more
Yesterday, the SEC voted, three to one, to propose new rules and amendments regarding SPACs, shell companies, the use of projections in SEC filings and a rule addressing the status of SPACs under the Investment Company Act of...more
Is everything securities fraud, as Bloomberg’s Matt Levine frequently maintains? (See this PubCo post.) Or perhaps, in the SPAC environment, will all claims of fraudulent misrepresentation and omission now become claims of...more
What could Aristotle possibly have to say about SPACs? In remarks on Thursday before the Healthy Markets Association, SEC Chair Gary Gensler shared his thoughts on the regulation of SPACs with a theme drawn from antiquity:...more
When the SEC was considering the NYSE’s proposal to permit direct listings of primary offerings, one of the frequently raised problems related to the potential “vulnerability” of “shareholder legal rights under Section 11 of...more
Tomorrow, in addition to Rule 10b5-1 plan recommendations (see this PubCo post), the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee is slated to take up draft subcommittee recommendations regarding SPACs. The new SPAC recommendations...more
Not according to 49 major law firms! Earlier this month, a shareholder of Pershing Square Tontine Holdings, Ltd., filed derivative litigation against the company’s board, its sponsor and other related companies, contending...more
SPACs have certainly presented a well-lighted pathway for hundreds of companies to reach the public markets this past year or so. In testimony before a House subcommittee in May, SEC Chair Gary Gensler observed that we are...more
Congress now seems to be all over this SPAC phenomenon. Last week a subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing on “Going Public: SPACs, Direct Listings, Public Offerings, and the Need for Investor...more
Reuters is reporting—exclusively—that the SEC is contemplating issuing more guidance that would “rein in growth projections” made by listed SPACs and clarify when the PSLRA would be available to protect SPAC projections,...more
As has been widely reported, there has been a phenomenal increase in the volume of SPAC transactions as an alternative approach to becoming a public company. According to Bloomberg, around “300 SPACs launched on U.S....more