Editor

Gerry Spedale

Partner

SEC Staff Issues Cautionary Guidance Related to Business Combinations with SPACs

​There were more initial public offerings (“IPOs") of special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs") in 2020 alone than in the entire period from 2009 until 2019 combined, and in the first three months of 2021, there have been more SPAC IPOs than there were in all of 2020. All of these newly public SPACs are looking…

SEC (Finally) Adopts Resource Extraction Disclosure Rules (Again)

​On December 16, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC") adopted final rules (available here) requiring certain disclosure by public companies that engage in the commercial development of oil, natural gas or minerals. Under the final rules, domestic or foreign “resource extraction issuers" (the definition of which is discussed below) will have to file…

NYSE Provides Temporary Waiver of Certain Shareholder Approval Requirements for Private Placements

​On April 6, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC") announced (available here) that it has immediately approved the New York Stock Exchange’s (“NYSE") proposed rule changes that temporarily waive certain shareholder approval requirements relating to private investments in public equity (PIPEs). The rule changes were proposed in light of the unprecedented disruption caused by…