Part of JOBS Act Regulations to be Finalized by October 31, 2013
On Wednesday May 15, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 701 which requires the SEC to finalize regulations with respect to “Regulation A+” of the JOBS Act. Regulation A+ would allow companies to more effectively raise money from the public, increasing the current offering limit of $5 million over 12 months to a limit of $50 million over 12 months.
House Statement on Regulation A+
The House Financial Services Committee released a statement which includes the following:
Specifically, H.R. 701 requires the SEC to implement Title IV of the JOBS Act by October 31, 2013. Title IV requires the SEC to adopt or amend regulations to encourage capital formation without requiring an SEC registration statement. These exemptions, referred to as “Regulation A+,” create a new category of public offerings exempt from SEC registration of up to $50 million raised over a 12-month period through issuance of equity securities, debt securities or debt securities convertible or exchangeable to equity interests, including any guarantees of such securities. Under current law, Regulation A provides a similar exemption for public offerings up to $5 million over 12 months.
To protect investors, the JOBS Act requires companies that make offerings under Regulation A+ to file audited financial statements with the SEC on an annual basis and gives the SEC the ability to require these issuers to make periodic disclosures about their operations, financial condition, use of proceeds and other information it deems appropriate.
What this means for the hedge fund industry
Right now this means little to the hedge fund industry except perhaps that Congress is getting tired of the SEC dragging their feet with respect to implementing the JOBS Act. As we have discussed previously, the major provision for fund managers is going to be the lifting of the ban on general solicitation. Perhaps this action indicates that Congress is going to continue to push the SEC to finalize all of the provisions of the JOBS Act.
Additionally, depending on the final Regulation A+ regulations, fund managers may be more inclined to start using that exemption instead of Rule 506 Regulation D, which is the de facto safe harbor used by fund managers. Our guess is that we will not see any real action on this issue until after mid-year and so we cannot know how this particular regulation may or may not affect managers for a few months.
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Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP provides legal advice to the hedge fund industry. Bart Mallon can be reached directly at 415-868-5345.