When raising capital, a company must comply with securities laws. As previously discussed, all offerings of securities, must either be registered with the SEC or exempt from such registration. Rule 506(b) is the most commonly used securities exemption for private companies. Even after complying with the basics of this exemption, there are many nuanced requirements that, if missed, can jeopardize qualifying under the exemption. Failure to comply with Rule 506(b) can subject an issuer and its officers and directors to various penalties. The SEC and state regulators can institute investigations and administrative and civil actions, enter various orders, and impose significant monetary penalties, and can transmit evidence to the U.S. Attorney General, who can bring criminal proceedings. In addition, violating securities registration requirements entitles the purchasers to rescission rights under federal and state laws. This blog post compiles some of the best practices for conducting a 506(b) offering in a bullet-pointed list for easy reference.
[Read more…]Regulation D Archives
Is New York’s Form 99 Required When a Rule 506 Offering Has New York Investors?
The vast majority of private companies raising capital use Rule 506 of Regulation D, which, if complied with, ensures the securities being sold are exempt from registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) because the offering of these securities does not involve “any public offering.” One of the primary advantages of a Rule 506 offering is that it is considered an offering of “covered securities,” which means that individual states cannot require issuers who meet the conditions of Rule 506 to register their offerings at the state level. By granting covered security status to Rule 506 offerings, Congress greatly reduced the compliance costs of companies raising private capital who would otherwise have to comply with the unique registration or exemption requirements of each state where one of their investors happened to live.
[Read more…]Why You Can’t Really Include Non-accredited Investors in Rule 506 Offerings
One common misconception I encounter among startups is the idea that companies raising capital can include non-accredited investors in Rule 506[1] offerings. While it is technically true that a Rule 506 offering may include up to 35 non-accredited investors, what is often missed is that it is not really practical to do so. [Read more…]
Is it time for the JOBS Act, Part Two?
When the JOBS Act was passed, a lot of people hoped that it would de-regulate startup finance, resulting in a boom of new startups being funded. Through repealing the ban on general solicitation, allowing online angel investment platforms, creating the new “Regulation A+,” and allowing equity crowdfunding, the JOBS Act was supposed to make funding startups considerably easier. But there have been some significant bumps in the road. First, in my view, the equity crowdfunding exemption that was included in the bill was unworkable from the beginning. That continues to be true under the crowdfunding regulations proposed by the SEC and of course the SEC has yet to adopt final equity crowdfunding regulations (which means that equity crowdfunding is still largely prohibited for non-accredited investors). While the SEC finally did implement the lifting of the ban on general solicitation by creating the new Rule 506(c), it also has proposed new onerous rules governing its use (as well as the use of the existing Rule 506(b)). The SEC has proposed implementing regulations for Regulation A+, but has not adopted final regulations, which means that the exemption still cannot be used. In addition, the SEC is getting pushback from state securities regulators on the proposed Regulation A+ on the issue of preempting state registration requirements, which may result in the removal of preemption from the final regulations (which would make the exemption considerably less useful). Furthermore, since Regulation A+ investors would be counted as shareholders for purposes of triggering reporting under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”), as the proposed rules are currently written, any use of the exemption would also likely trigger expensive Exchange Act reporting requirements. [Read more…]
AngelList Posts Thoughtful Comments to Proposed SEC Form D Regulations
On August 12, 2013, the crowdfunding platform AngelList submitted some really great and thoughtful comments to the SEC with respect to the SEC’s proposed Reg. D amendments related to new Form D filing requirements and enhanced penalties for failure to file (which you can read more about here). AngelList expressed its concern that the newly proposed Form D rules would result in “disastrous unintended consequences” for startups, observing that proposed rules reflect how sophisticated Wall Street issuers, investment banks, and law firms, rather than early stage businesses, engage in capital raising. [Read more…]