On June 29, the Division of Corporation Finance (Division) of the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that, beginning on July 10, the Division will permit all issuers to confidentially submit to the Division, for nonpublic review, draft registration statements in connection with initial public offerings (IPOs) and in certain other cases. This was previously only available to emerging growth companies (EGCs) under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act for their IPOs.
Continue Reading SEC Expands Nonpublic Review of Draft Registration Statements

As previously reported, President Obama signed into law the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) on December 4. The transportation bill includes several provisions related to securities laws and capital-raising measures, which were summarized in the December 11 edition of the Corporate and Financial Weekly Digest. One provision of the FAST Act requires the Securities and Exchange Commission to revise Form S-1 and Form F-1 to permit emerging growth companies (EGCs) to omit Regulation S-X financial information for historical periods otherwise required at the time of filing (or confidential submission), provided that the issuer reasonably believes the omitted financial information will not be required in the Form S-1 or F-1 at the time of the contemplated offering and that, prior to the issuer distributing a preliminary prospectus, such registration statement is amended to include all required Regulation S-X financial information at the date of such amendment. On December 11, the SEC issued two new Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (C&DIs) to provide further guidance as to how to apply this provision.
Continue Reading SEC Division of Corporation Finance Issues New C&DIs on FAST Act