Category: Capital Markets

SEC Issues New Cybersecurity Guidance

On February 26, the SEC published interpretive guidance to assist public companies in preparing disclosures about cybersecurity risks and incidents. The SEC’s new guidance reinforces and expands on its October 2011 guidance, emphasizing the importance of adopting sound cybersecurity policies and procedures and safeguards against insider trading in the event of a potentially material cybersecurity breach....

Status Check on the SEC’s Proposed Overhaul of the Mining Disclosure Regime (Part 2)

The SEC is aiming to finalize its new mining disclosure rules within the next year, according to statements made last week by William Hinman, Director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance, at the Securities Regulation Institute. For more details regarding the SEC’s original 2016 proposal to revamp the rules, and reactions by industry, see...

Status Check on the SEC’s Proposed Overhaul of the Mining Disclosure Regime

About 18 months have passed since the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published its bold attempt to modernize the disclosure requirements for mining companies that are listed on U.S. stock exchanges or otherwise report to the SEC. With final rules not yet adopted, the fight for a streamlined reporting regime continues. The SEC’s proposed...

Are Your Private Placement Documents Up To Date?

Over the last few years, many Canadian junior resource companies and startup companies have cut back on their legal spend, not necessarily undertaking a legal review of each new private placement of securities, or limiting their review to a Canadian one. Yet over this same time frame, the applicable U.S. rules and relevant interpretations have...

Regulation A+ May Become Available To SEC Reporting Issuers

On September 5, 2017, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed (by a vote of 403-3) the Improving Access to Capital Act. The Act directs the SEC to amend Regulation A+ to allow SEC reporting issuers to use Regulation A+ when raising capital, and to deem their SEC periodic reports to satisfy the periodic and...

NYSE Rule Change For Dividends and Distributions

Readers listed on the NYSE will want to note a recent rule change. Effective immediately, notification of public announcements regarding dividends or stock distributions must be provided to the NYSE at least ten minutes prior to public release, even after market close. Read more in the post from our partner Jason Brenkert here: https://governancecomplianceinsider.com/nyse-rule-change-requires-ten-minutes-advance-notice-of-public-announcement-of-dividends-or-stock-distributions/

Interesting Facts About U.S. Private Placements

This week the SEC Division of Economic and Risk Analysis published a new report including a wealth of data regarding recent trends in public offerings and private placements of securities. The report includes a number of interesting facts about U.S. private placement practice, including: In the last few years, issuers have raised 2-3 times more...

Compensation to Newsletter Writers Must Be Disclosed

On April 10, 2017, the SEC’s Division of Enforcement brought enforcement actions against 27 individuals and entities behind various alleged stock promotion schemes. These actions arose when public companies, through promoters or communications firms, hired newsletter writers to generate publicity for their securities without publicly disclosing that the writers were being paid. While it is...

The Danger of Paying Finder’s Fees to Unregistered Broker-Dealers

We get asked from time-to-time whether it is advisable for issuers to pay fees to unregistered “finders” for introducing potential investors in the United States to the issuer in connection with securities offerings. The short answer is “no.” Most finders are engaged by issuers under finder’s, advisory, or other arrangements, which typically require payment of...

Cross-Border Loan Transactions: Supplementing Canadian Law Governed Loan Documents with Collateral and Guaranty Documents Governed by U.S. Law

Many cross-border loan transactions involve subsidiaries that are organized in the United States and/or U.S. based collateral. To the extent that the underlying loan is made to a Canadian borrower by a Canadian lender, these transactions are typically documented with loan agreements governed by Canadian law (often under the law of the Province where the primary...