Skadden Discusses Final SEC Rules on SPACs and De-SPACs

By Andrew J. Brady, Joshua Shainess, Michael K. Hoffman, C. Michael Chitwood and Gregg. A Noel February 16, 2024 by renholding

On January 24, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted final rules that impose significant additional procedural and disclosure requirements on initial public offerings (IPOs) by special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) and in business combination transactions involving SPACs (de-SPACs). …

Overtaking Mutual Funds: The Hidden Rise and Risk of Collective Investment Trusts

By Natalya Shnitser November 9, 2023 by renholding

The retirement security of millions of American workers is increasingly tied to an investment vehicle that most have never heard of, and whose dramatic growth over the last 40 years has received almost no regulatory or academic scrutiny.

With nearly …

SEC Chair Gensler Speaks on Updates to the Names Rule

By Gary Gensler September 22, 2023 by renholding

Today [September 20], the Commission is considering final rules to update the Names Rule. I am pleased to support this rule adoption because it will help ensure that a fund’s portfolio matches a fund’s name. Such truth in advertising promotes

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Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses SEC Amendments to Rules Governing Money Market Funds

By Dalia O. Blass, Eric M. Diamond, Donald R. Crawshaw and Amy R. Dreisiger August 7, 2023 by renholding

On July 12, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) voted 3 to 2 (Commissioners Peirce and Uyeda dissenting) to adopt certain amendments to rules and forms under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “Investment Company Act”) intended …

SEC Chair Speaks About Proposed Rules on Money Market Funds, Customer Protection

By Gary Gensler July 13, 2023 by renholding

Today [July 12], the Commission is considering adopting final rules to enhance money market funds’ liquidity and investor protection. I support this adoption because it will enhance these funds’ resiliency and ability to protect against dilution.

Money market funds—nearly $6

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SEC Chair Speaks Before the Investment Company Institute

By Gary Gensler May 26, 2023 by renholding

As is customary, I’d like to note that my views are my own as Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and I’m not speaking on behalf of my fellow Commissioners or the SEC staff.

Investment Company Act of 1940

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SEC Chair Testifies Before U.S. House Committee on Financial Services

By Gary Gensler April 24, 2023 by renholding

Good morning, Chairman McHenry, Ranking Member Waters, and members of the Committee. Thank you for inviting me to testify today. As is customary, I will note that my views are my own, and I am not speaking on behalf of …

The ESG Gap

By Sharon Hannes, Adi Libson and Gideon Parchomovsky January 3, 2023 by renholding

In recent years, demand for companies to promote environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) values has increased dramatically. Investment in ESG-oriented mutual funds (green funds), rose globally by 53 percent in 2021 to $2.7 trillion (Kishan, 2022). Bloomberg forecasts…

SEC Chair Gensler Speaks on Crypto and the Securities Laws

By Gary Gensler September 9, 2022 by renholding

Joseph Kennedy, the first Chairman of the SEC, had a saying: “No honest business need fear the SEC.”[1]

In the depths of the Great Depression, Congress and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (known for a slightly more famous quotation about

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Wachtell Lipton Discusses Regulating Cryptoassets With Existing Tools

By Kevin S. Schwartz, Rosemary Spaziani , David M. Adlerstein, David E. Kirk and Sabina M. Beleuz August 23, 2022 by renholding

For all the press lamenting the “crypto winter” and urging long-term legislative overhaul, there has not been sufficient attention to how existing regulatory tools can be employed to address some of the key risks and vulnerabilities in the current crypto …

Decentralized Finance, Crypto Funds, and Value Creation in Tokenized Firms

By Paul P. Momtaz, Niclas Dombrowski, Wolfgang Drobetz and Douglas J. Cumming May 31, 2022 by renholding

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) employs blockchain technology and smart contracts with the goal of enabling perfectly disintermediated financial markets. Despite the far-reaching ambition, DeFi markets are experiencing increasing intermediation recently, as a new type of intermediary, so-called Crypto Funds (henceforth, CFs), …

Leading Law Firms Respond to Investment Company Act Lawsuits Targeting SPAC Industry

By Fifty-Eight Law Firms August 31, 2021 by renholding

Editor’s Note: A response to the statement below immediately follows this post.

Recently a purported shareholder of certain special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) initiated derivative lawsuits asserting that the SPACs are investment companies under the Investment Company Act of 1940, …

The Anti-SPAC Attack Claque

By William A. Birdthistle August 31, 2021 by renholding

A joint letter by 58 law firms is certainly a notable declaration, particularly when pulled together within a mere 10 days after litigation initiated by esteemed scholars. Observers might be tempted to wonder whether the motivation for such a quick …

Moving Beyond Mutual Funds

By Shawn Bayern August 13, 2021 by renholding

As has become widely known in the past few years, the mutual-fund industry is more concentrated than ever, especially because of the growing use of index funds. Whether this is a problem and how to respond have been the topics …

How the SEC Modernized Regulation of Exchange-Traded Funds and the Task Ahead

By Georges Ugeux February 6, 2020 by renholding

On September 26, 2019, the SEC released the much-anticipated new rule and form amendments designed to modernize the regulation of Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs).[1] Rule 6c-11 under the Investment Company Act permits ETFs that satisfy certain conditions to operate without …

Skadden Discusses BlackRock Win in One of Largest Mutual Fund Cases Ever

By James R. Carroll, Eben P. Colby, Scott D. Musoff, Christopher A. Lisy and Marley Ann Brumme March 1, 2019 by renholding

Following an eight-day bench trial, Judge Freda L. Wolfson of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey ruled in favor of certain subsidiaries of BlackRock, Inc. on $1.55 billion in claims brought under Section 36(b) of the …

Shearman & Sterling Reviews How CFIUS Changes Affect Technology Transactions and Investments

By Robert L. LaRussa, Lisa Raisner, George Casey and Scott Petepiece February 15, 2019 by abirvarma

When it was enacted in August 2018, the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (FIRRMA) overhauled the US law governing CFIUS national security reviews for the first time in 11 years. Many of FIRRMA’s most significant changes, however, …

SEC Divisions Set Forth Views on Issuing and Trading Digital Asset Securities

By Securities and Exchange Commission November 21, 2018 by renholding

In recent years, we have seen significant advances in technologies – including blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies – that impact our securities markets. This statement[1] highlights several recent Commission enforcement actions involving the intersection of long-standing applications of …

Mutual Funds and the Regulatory Capture of the SEC

By Stewart L. Brown November 29, 2016 by renholding

Regulatory agencies are created to act in the public interest but often end up acting in the interests of those regulated. This is known as regulatory capture. The theory of regulatory capture may be given both a broad and narrow …

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Columbia Law School's Blog on Corporations and the Capital Markets

Investment Company Act