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The authors of this blog are members of the Corporate/Securities practice of Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP. Since our founding, this firm has been distinguished by responsive, independent and client-focused legal services provided by lawyers with a profound commitment to the companies they serve. This blog is an outgrowth of this representation of our clients in a wide range of capital market transactions.
On December 9, 2021, the SEC Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation released its 2021 annual report condensing a treasure trove of data related to exempt and registered offerings by small businesses for the period July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021 and providing related policy recommendations to support such businesses.
The SEC and OTC Markets Group follow through on prohibiting brokerage firms from quoting prices for OTC stocks for which brokers don’t have current, and thus reliable, financial information. Shareholders and investors of more than 2,000 publicly traded OTC Pink No Information companies (about 16% of all OTC companies and 18% of all OTC Pink companies) will now find it more difficult to buy and sell those stocks on the Expert Market.
The SEC has recently permitted public companies with remote-first operations to circumvent the requirement that they report an address and phone number for their principal executive offices on the cover page of their Form S-1 registration statements. Is this a reflection of the “new normal” and, if so, has the SEC answered through these filings the fundamental question whether there is any longer a purpose for disclosing the location of a registrant’s principal executive offices?
Attacking information asymmetry between management and shareholders, the SEC charged eight companies for failing to disclose in Form 12b-25 filings that their reason for seeking a delayed annual or quarterly report was an anticipated restatement or correction of prior financial reporting. Public companies should be reminded that all filings – even arguably minor ones like Form NT – must be truthful and complete.
Spencer Feldman's article first appeared in Law360 (April 9, 2021, subscription required)
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