Shannon M. Traylor

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In a recently issued letter decision, the Delaware Court of Chancery reiterated the general rule that directors have an unencumbered right to access corporate information (with certain exceptions). The case involves a dispute between two groups of directors—those affiliated with a controlling stockholder, and those that are not. An affiliated director filed a motion to compel the production of information, including corporate communications between (1) unaffiliated directors and officers of the corporation and company counsel; and (2) members of a special committee formed specifically to negotiate with the controlling stockholder and that committee’s own independent counsel. The court largely granted the affiliated director’s request, with the exception of communications between the special committee and its counsel.
Continue Reading Delaware Chancery Reiterates Directors’ Right to Access Corporation Information

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance issued two new Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (C&DI), expanding its previously issued guidance related to the exemption from Item 10(e)(5) under Regulation S-K and Regulation G for non-GAAP financial information provided to a financial advisor in forecasts for business combination transactions. The previously issued guidance was discussed in the November 3, 2017 edition of the Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest.
Continue Reading SEC Guidance Expanding Exclusions for Non-GAAP Information

The Corporate Council of the Corporation Law Section of the Delaware State Bar Association released proposed legislation to amend certain provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL). The proposed amendments are primarily technical and attempt to clarify and resolve certain ambiguities and inconsistencies in the DGCL by, among other changes, (1) further align the merger statutes with the appraisal statute and (2) clarify the manner in which defective corporate acts may be ratified.
Continue Reading Delaware State Bar Association Council Releases Proposed Amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law

On February 2, the Securities and Exchange Commissions approved a New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) rule change that facilitates the listing of companies on the NYSE without a prior registration statement under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) in connection with an underwritten initial public offering. As previously discussed in the May 5, 2017 and June 30, 2017 editions of the Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest, the NYSE had previously filed and withdrew the proposed rule change. Thereafter, the NYSE elected to move forward with the rule change and filed amendments, including a final Amendment No. 3. The NYSE noted that the proposed rule change would enable the NYSE to compete for listings of companies that the NYSE believes would be able to list on the Nasdaq Stock Market, but would not be able to list on the NYSE under its then-current rules.
Continue Reading SEC Approves NYSE Rule to Facilitate Listing Without an IPO

On October 17, the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance issued guidance related to the scope of Regulation G’s exemption for disclosure of non-generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) information.
Continue Reading SEC Division of Corporation Finance Issues C&DI Clarifying Exemptions for Non-GAAP Information in Forecasts for M&A Transactions

On August 22, the Investor Engagement Advisor in the Office of the Investor Advocate, Stephen Deane, gave a speech to the Tulsa chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants in which, among other things, he addressed two proposals by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to revise the definition of materiality under generally accepted accounting standards.
Continue Reading Speech From the Office of the Investor Advocate Addresses FASB’s Proposals Regarding the Definition of Materiality

On June 19, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) filed a notice withdrawing its proposed rule that would have allowed companies to list on the NYSE without an initial public offering. The proposed rule was previously discussed in the May 5, 2017 edition of the Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest. The proposed rule would have amended Footnote (E) of Section 102.01B of the NYSE Listed Company Manual, specifically the provisions related to the qualification of companies listing without a prior registration under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Continue Reading NYSE Withdraws Proposed Rule to Allow Listing Without an IPO

In a stark application of the adage that one should be careful what one wishes for—because one may get it—on May 30, Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock III of the Delaware Chancery Court issued an opinion in In re Appraisal of SWS Group, Inc. (C.A. No. 10554-VCG), a stockholder lawsuit seeking appraisal for the shares of SWS Group, Inc. (SWS), a financially struggling bank and broker-dealer firm. The appraisal claim arose out of the merger of SWS with Hilltop Holdings Inc. (Hilltop) in January 2015. The court’s decision on the fair value of the SWS shares reduced the price paid to dissenting stockholders from the merger price of $6.92 per share, payable in a mixture of cash and stock, to $6.38, payable in cash. This decision, and the resulting 7.8 percent reduction in consideration, demonstrates the risks inherent in “appraisal arbitrage.”
Continue Reading Delaware Chancery Court Decision Demonstrates Continuing Risk to “Appraisal Arbitrage”

On March 13, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) issued a proposed rule to amend the provisions related to the qualification of companies listing without a prior registration under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act). This proposed rule amends Footnote (E) of Section 102.01B of the NYSE Listed Company Manual (Footnote (E)) and would allow companies to be listed on the NYSE without an initial public offering or other registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act).
Continue Reading NYSE Issues Proposed Rule to Allow Listing Without an IPO