CLIENT NEWSFLASH
Congress Poised to Pass Legislation to Facilitate Capital
Formation
December 2, 2015
Yesterday, conference committee members for the House and Senate agreed on a five-year
transportation bill. While this type of legislation is rarely of interest to participants in the capital markets,
the bill includes several provisions that will improve upon the JOBS Act and facilitate capital formation
transactions. The legislation is expected to be voted on by the House and Senate this week as lawmakers
prepare to send a final bill to President Obama for signature before December 4.
The capital formation legislation was attached to the House version of the transportation bill in early
November and was preserved without further modification by a conference committee tasked with
reconciling the House and Senate proposals. The capital formation measures (which appear in the last
section of the proposed bill, under Division G—Financial Services) include the following:
Title LXXI—Improving Access to Capital for Emerging Growth Companies
This provision would makes changes to the treatment of emerging growth companies (EGCs), as defined
by the JOBS Act.
Specifically, it would:
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Reduce from 21 to 15 the number of days before a road show that an EGC must publicly file its
confidential submissions with the SEC;
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Provide a grace period for an issuer that filed for its IPO as an EGC but then subsequently lost
EGC status before the IPO is completed: the issuer will continue to be treated as an EGC for one
year or, if earlier, until consummation of its IPO; and
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Permit EGCs that file a registration statement (or submit the statement for confidential review) on
Form S-1 or Form F-1 to omit Regulation S-X financial information for historical periods otherwise
required as of the time of filing (or confidential submission) provided that (1) the omitted financial
information relates to a historical period the EGC reasonably believes will not be required in the
Form S-1 or F-1 at the time of the offering and (2) prior to the distribution of a preliminary
prospectus to investors, the registration statement is amended to include all financial information
required by S-X at the date of such amendment. By way of example, an EGC currently planning
an IPO that expects to price in the spring with 2015 audited financial statements could omit 2013
audited financial statements in its registration statement so long as the registration statement is
amended to include the 2015 audited financials before a preliminary IPO prospectus is distributed
to investors.
Title LXXVI—Reforming Access for Investments in Startup Enterprises
This provision would establish a legal framework for private resales of restricted securities by codifying as
new Section 4(a)(7) of the Securities Act the so-called “Section 4(1½) exemption,” an informal resale
exemption that has developed over time based on case law and industry practice. Specifically, it would
exempt from registration any resale transaction subject to the following conditions:
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Each purchaser is an accredited investor;
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No general solicitation is utilized;
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In the case of transactions involving the securities of non-reporting issuers, such issuers (upon
request of the seller) must make available to both the seller and prospective purchaser certain
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additional information, including general information about the issuer (name, address, nature of
business, officers and directors, and transfer agent) and the securities (title, class, par value and
amount outstanding), and certain financial information of the issuer;
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The securities may not be offered by the issuer or a direct or indirect subsidiary of the issuer;
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The securities must not be part of an unsold allotment to, or a subscription or participation by, an
underwriter of the securities;
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The securities must be of a class that has been outstanding for at least 90 days prior to the date
of the transaction; and
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The issuer must be “engaged in business” and not be in the organizational stage or in
bankruptcy, or a blank check or shell company. Although the title of the provision refers to
“startup enterprises,” the exemption would apply to resales of securities of all issuers, public and
private, irrespective of size.
Certain bad actor disqualification requirements for sellers and intermediaries would apply, and such
offerings would be exempt from state “blue sky” registration.
The effect of this provision would be to further facilitate the creation of a secondary market in securities of
private companies, as the rules for secondary trades will be clearly spelled out for market participants.
That is consistent with the theme of the JOBS Act, which sought to improve access to public markets for
companies while also making it easier for companies to stay private longer.
Title LXXXIV—Small Company Simple Registration
This provision would permit smaller reporting companies to automatically update information in a Form S1 prospectus by forward incorporation of reports filed with the SEC after the registration statement is
declared effective. Under current law, only S-3 filers can utilize forward incorporation by reference, and a
Form S-1 used as a shelf must be manually updated through supplements or post-effective amendments.
This change will enhance the ability of smaller reporting companies to use Form S-1 as a “shelf”
registration statement. It should be noted that Form S-1 is only available as a shelf for secondary resales
and not primary offerings by an issuer.
If you have any questions regarding the matters covered in this publication, please contact any of the
lawyers listed below or your regular Davis Polk contact.
Alan F.
Denenberg
650 752 2004
alan.denenberg@davispolk.com
Joseph A. Hall
212 450 4565
joseph.hall@davispolk.com
Michael Kaplan
212 450 4111
michael.kaplan@davispolk.com
Richard D. Truesdell, Jr.
212 450 4674
richard.truesdell@davispolk.com
Michele Luburich
212 450 4172
michele.luburich@davispolk.com
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