Sky Blog
In response to the 2008 financial crisis, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) was enacted on July 21, 2010 to overhaul the U.S. financial regulatory system. Dodd-Frank contains 390 rulemaking requirements, of which 274 (70.3 percent) …
A key challenge for activist investors is convincing other shareholders that the activist agenda will increase the value of a target firm. Accordingly, activists commonly release public disclosures through traditional and social media, news wires, or their fund’s website. These …
On March 7, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Enforcement Division and its Trading & Markets Division issued a joint “Statement on Potentially Unlawful Online Platforms for Trading Digital Assets.”[1] The release appeared to be the strongest signal yet …
BlackRock, the vast asset manager, has been feted for demanding that the boards of its portfolio firms pursue a social purpose, which likely entails spreading corporate profits beyond shareholders to include labor and victims of environmental harm.[1] But despite …
On March 20, 2018, the Supreme Court in Cyan, Inc. v. Beaver County Employees Retirement Fund, No. 15-1439, unanimously held that state courts have jurisdiction over class actions alleging only violations of the Securities Act of 1933.[1] The …
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced proposals to tighten its jurisdiction over mergers in the military, quantum technology and computing hardware industries. The changes, which are subject to a consultation period through April 12, 2018, would lower …
The role of institutional investors in modern society often goes underappreciated. In fact, the viability of many socio-economic systems is premised on institutional investors succeeding in their missions. Sovereign wealth funds help stabilize the macro-economy and currency prices, finance critical …
On February 21, 2018, the SEC issued new Guidance regarding cybersecurity disclosure and governance requirements applicable to SEC reporting companies. In our earlier Client Update on this topic, we discussed the disclosure considerations addressed in the Guidance. In this Client …
A key principle of financial reporting is that “information should be expressed so that substance, not form, governs” [1]. What this means is that “the financial statements and accompanying disclosures of a business should reflect the underlying realities of business …
On February 21, 2018, Transparency International (“TI”) released its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (“CPI”) for 2017, surveying and ranking perceptions of public sector corruption in 180 countries and territories, on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very …
Businesses often face criticism for putting profit over people and for sometimes ignoring the needs of various stakeholders, including employees and communities. This reality has led to a variety of efforts, including the corporate social responsibility movement, seeking to encourage …
Since the Delaware Supreme Court issued its landmark Dell appraisal decision in December 2017, the Delaware courts have issued three appraisal decisions—Verition Partners v. Aruba Networks (Feb. 15, 2018), In re Appraisal of AOL Inc. (Feb. 23, 2018), and …
The news that a whistleblower contacted U.S. regulators last month about alleged manipulation of the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, or VIX, highlights near universal reliance on information that stock market indices provide. While the VIX is not itself …
On March 1, 2018, Overstock.com disclosed that its ongoing $250 million initial coin offering has been under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission since February.1 The investigation appears to be part of a widespread probe pursuant to …
Firms faced with a class action lawsuit experience reputational and financial penalties. [1] However, research has focused solely on the consequences for the defendant and, to our knowledge, no studies have examined whether the repercussions of alleged malfeasance range beyond …
Despite an increase in M&A activity over the past three months, deal trends in February 2018 retreated towards their 12-month averages, following banner months in November and December, both of which featured some of the largest deals we have seen …
Securities class actions soared in 2017, jumping from 271 filings in 2016 to a near record 412 filings in 2017 — well above the average of 193 per year for the years 1997 to 2016.[1] Only 2001 was comparable, …
The SEC continues to send messages to the nascent cryptocurrency market. The agency has recently brought enforcement actions and issued a public statement that illustrate the agency’s views on how the federal securities laws apply to crypto or digital asset …
Central bank law is an unloved part of public law. Maybe that’s because commercial litigators cannot sue central banks, advise the people that sell bonds to them, or argue cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court to create new …