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Exchange Act
Debevoise & Plimpton Discusses SEC Accommodations for Draft Registration Statements
On March 3, 2025, the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) announced that it will further expand the accommodations available for issuers to submit draft registration statements for nonpublic review. These …
Fried Frank Discusses SEC Expansion of Nonpublic Review Accommodations for Registration Statements
The Division of Corporation Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) is expanding the available accommodations relating to nonpublic review of draft registration statements.
Previously, such accommodations had been available only to a subset of issuers: In 2012, …
Skadden Discusses Fifth Circuit Decision Vacating Nasdaq Board Diversity Rules
On December 11, 2024, in a 9-8 decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that in approving the Nasdaq Stock Market’s (Nasdaq) board diversity rules (the Rules), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had …
Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses SEC Charge of Internal Accounting Controls Failure Based on Cybersecurity Breach
On June 18, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced charges against R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company (“RRD”) for failure to maintain adequate internal accounting controls in violation of Section 13(b)(2)(B) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange …
Skadden Discusses Scotus Ruling That Omissions Not Actionable Under Section 10(b) of Exchange Act
On April 12, 2024, the Supreme Court unanimously reversed and vacated the Second Circuit’s decision in Macquarie Infrastructure Corporation v. Moab Partners, L.P. Justice Sonia Sotomayor delivered the opinion for the Court. The issue presented was whether the failure to …
Why Corporate Governance Needs to Account for Data-Driven Mergers
Why might an insurance company acquire a robot manufacturer or a retailer acquire a home security provider? The answer might have once been diversification, but now it is more likely to be a desire for data. A new type of …
Are Cryptoexchanges the Exchange Act’s Trojan Horse?
The Corporate Contract and the Private Ordering of Shareholder Proposals
Davis Polk Discusses New SEC Rules on Definition of “Dealer”
On February 6, 2024, the SEC adopted by a 3-2 vote a set of final rules that “further define” terms used in the statutory definition of “dealer,” adjusting the “dealer-trader” distinction in a way that could significantly expand the scope …
Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses SEC Charges for Failure to Timely Report Transactions and Holdings
On September 27, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced charges against six public company insiders for failing to timely report information about their holdings and transactions in company securities. Five publicly traded companies were also charged with …
Davis Polk Discusses Ninth Circuit Decision on Forum Selection Clauses
On June 1, 2023, the Ninth Circuit held en banc that a forum selection clause requiring all derivative claims to be brought in Delaware state court—including federal securities claims that can only be maintained in federal court—is enforceable and requires …
Cooley Discusses the Risk of Liability from Sustainability Reports
In April of last year, as described in this press release, the SEC filed a complaint against Vale S.A., a publicly traded (NYSE) Brazilian mining company and one of the world’s largest iron ore producers, charging that it made “false …
SEC Chair Gensler Speaks on Requirement to File Electronically
Today [March 22], the Commission is considering a proposal under the Exchange Act to require broker-dealers and other registrants to submit forms electronically. I am pleased to support this proposal because, if adopted, it would advance the Commission’s efforts to
Legal Guardrails for a Unicorn Crackdown
The SEC is undertaking an historic effort to redraw the boundary between public and private companies. After years of watching – and sometimes encouraging – the explosive growth in less tightly regulated private markets and the proliferation of so-called “unicorns,” …
The Jobs Act Did Not Raise IPO Underpricing
The JOBS Act was signed into law on April 5, 2012, with the objective of improving access to the public capital market for growth companies. Title I of the JOBS Act amended the Securities Act and the Exchange Act and …
Paul Weiss Discusses Defense Spending Bill With Provisions Expanding SEC Disgorgement
On December 11, 2020, Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, H.R. 6395 (the “NDAA”). The $740.5 billion bill includes language amending the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) to provide the SEC with …
Latham & Watkins Discusses SEC Proposal of Safe Harbor Framework for Unregistered Finders
On October 7, 2020, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a Notice of Proposed Exemptive Order Granting Conditional Exemption from the Broker Registration Requirements of Section 15(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 for Certain Activities of …
Why the SEC’s Proposal to Amend Rule 13f-1 Should Fail
On July 10, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a 35-fold increase – from $100 million to $3.5 billion – in the threshold for requiring institutional investment managers to publicly report their equity holdings on Form 13F.[1] This …
EBITDAC, Civil Liability, and New Paradigms
COVID-19 has led companies to patch-up financial reporting by adding estimates of pre-COVID-19 profits to their EBITDA. Recently, COVID-19 prompted measuring-equipment manufacturer Schenck Process, for example, to add back €5.4 million, resulting in an adjusted EBITDA of €18.3 …