On March 4, 2020, the SEC published proposed rule changes to harmonize, simplify and improve the exempt offering framework. The SEC had originally issued a concept release and request for public comment on the subject in June 2019 (see HERE). The proposed rule changes indicate that the SEC has been listening to capital markets participants and is supporting increased access to private offerings for both businesses and a larger class of investors. Together with the proposed amendments to the accredited investor definition (see HERE), the new rules could have as much of an impact on the capital markets as the JOBS Act has had since its enactment in 2012.
The 341-page rule release provides a comprehensive overhaul to the exempt offering and integration rules worthy of in-depth discussion. I have been breaking the information down into a series of blogs, with this fourth blog focusing on amendments to Regulation A other than integration and offering communications which affect all exempt offerings and were discussed in the first two blogs in this series. The final blog in this series will discuss changes to Regulation Crowdfunding.
To review the first blog in this series, which centered on the offering integration concept, see HERE. To review the second blog in the series, which focused on offering communications, the new demo day exemption, and testing-the-waters provisions, see HERE. To review the third blog in this series, which focused on Regulation D, Rule 504 and the bad actor rules, see HERE.
Background; Current Exemption Framework
As I’ve written about many times, the Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”) requires that every offer and sale of securities either be registered with the SEC or exempt from registration. The purpose of registration is to provide investors with full and fair disclosure of material information so that they are able to make their own informed investment and voting decisions.
Offering exemptions are found in Sections 3 and 4 of the Securities Act. Section 3 exempts certain classes of securities (for example, government-backed securities or short-term notes) and certain transactions (for example, Section 3(a)(9) exchanges of one security for another). Section 4 contains all transactional exemptions including Section 4(a)(2), which is the statutory basis for Regulation D and its Rules 506(b) and 506(c). Currently, the requirements to rely on exemptions vary from the type of company making the offering (private or public, U.S. or not, investment companies…), the offering amount, manner of offering (solicitation allowable or not), bad actor rules, type of investor (accredited) and amount and type of disclosure required. In general, the greater the ability to sell to non-accredited investors, the more offering requirements are imposed.
For more background on the current exemption framework, including a chart summarizing the most often used exemptions and their requirements, see Part 1 in this blog series HERE.
Proposed Rule Changes
The proposed rule changes are meant to reduce complexities and gaps in the current exempt offering structure. As such, the rules would amend the integration rules to provide certainty for companies moving from one offering to another or to a registered offering; increase the offering limits under Regulation A, Rule 504 and Regulation Crowdfunding and increase the individual investment limits for investors under each of the rules; increase the ability to communicate during the offering process, including for offerings that historically prohibited general solicitation; and harmonize disclosure obligations and bad actor rules to decrease differences between various offering exemptions.
Regulation A
The current two tier Regulation A offering process went into effect on June 19, 2015, as part of the JOBS Act. Since its inception there has been one rule modification opening up the offering to SEC reporting companies (see HERE) and multiple SEC guidance publications including through C&DI on the Regulation A process. For a recent summary of Regulation A, see HERE.
Increase in Offering Limit
On March 15, 2018, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 4263, the Regulation A+ Improvement Act, increasing the Regulation A+ Tier 2 limit from $50 million to $75 million in a 12-month period. On June 8, 2017, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Financial Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers and Entrepreneurs Act (the “Financial Choice Act 2.0”), which also included a provision increasing the Tier 2 offering limit to $75 million.
Following suit, the new proposed rule changes will increase the maximum Regulation A Tier 2 offering from $50 Million to $75 million in any 12-month period. As such, the 30% offering limit for secondary sales would increase from $15 million to $22.5 million. Tier 1 offering limits would remain unchanged.
Simplification
The SEC is also proposing to simplify the requirements for Regulation A and establish greater consistency between Regulation A and registered offerings by permitting Regulation A issuers to: (i) file certain redacted exhibits using the process previously adopted for registered offerings (see HERE); (ii) make draft offering statements and related correspondence available to the public via EDGAR to comply with the requirements of Securities Act Rule 252(d), rather than requiring them to be filed as exhibits to qualified offering statements; (iii) incorporate financial statement information by reference to other documents filed on EDGAR and generally allow incorporation by reference to the same degree as a registered offering (see HERE); and (iv) to have post-qualification amendments declared abandoned.
In March 2019, the SEC amended parts of Regulation S-K to allow companies to mark their exhibit index to indicate that portions of the exhibit or exhibits have been omitted, include a prominent statement on the first page of the redacted exhibit that certain identified information has been excluded from the exhibit because it is both not material and would be competitively harmful if publicly disclosed, and indicate with brackets where the information has been omitted from the filed version of the exhibit. At the time, the Regulation A rules were not changed such that Regulation A filers are still compelled to submit an application for confidential treatment in order to redact immaterial confidential information from material contracts and plans of acquisition, reorganization, arrangement, liquidation, or succession.
SEC staff would continue to review Forms 1-A filed in connection with Regulation A offerings and selectively assess whether redactions from exhibits appear to be limited to information that meets the appropriate standard. Upon request, companies would be expected to promptly provide supplemental materials to the SEC similar to those currently required, including an unredacted copy of the exhibit and an analysis of why the redacted information is both not material and the type of information that the company both customarily and actually treats as private and confidential.
Companies would also still be able to request confidentiality under Rule 83. For more on confidential treatment in SEC filings, see HERE
The SEC is also proposing to make draft offering statements and related correspondence available to the public via EDGAR to comply with the requirements of Securities Act Rule 252(d), rather than requiring them to be filed as exhibits to qualified offering statements. Currently confidential submittals must be filed as an exhibit to a public filing, which adds time and expense to the process. To the contrary, confidential registration statements filed under the Securities Act can simply be recoded to become publicly available. The proposed rules would add the same process for Regulation A filers.
The SEC is also proposing to allow previously filed financial statements to be incorporated by reference into a Regulation A offering circular. As proposed, companies that have a reporting obligation under Rule 257 or the Exchange Act must be current in their reporting obligations. In addition, companies would be required to make incorporated financial statements readily available and accessible on a website maintained by or for the company, and disclose in the offering statement that such financial statements will be provided upon request. Companies conducting ongoing offerings would still need to file an annual post-qualification amendment with updated financial statements.
Excluding Delinquent Reporting Companies
The proposed amendments would exclude reporting companies that are not current in periodic reports required under Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act from using Regulation A. Excluding companies that are subject to, but not current in, Exchange Act reporting obligations from eligibility under Regulation A may reduce the average level of information asymmetry about Regulation A issuers and incrementally increase investor interest in securities offered in this market.The Author