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 for business combinations and many private companies are or will be considering a combination with a SPAC as a way to go public. Read More »
Private Placements
Nasdaq Amends Proposed Rules to Allow Primary Direct Listings
As discussed in Gibson Dunn’s Current Guide to Direct Listings, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) recently amended its rules to permit a primary offering in connection with a direct listing. The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (Nasdaq) also had proposed rules permitting primary offerings in connection with a direct listing.[1] On February 24, 2021, in the course of the SEC’s review, Nasdaq amended its original proposal to bring its rules more in line with those adopted by the NYSE and approved by the SEC – clearing up some confusion caused by the original proposal.[2] Read More »
SEC Proposes Changes to Rule 144, Form 144, Form 4 and Form 5
On December 22, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC") proposed and published for comment amendments to Rule 144, Form 144, Form 4, Form 5 and Rule 101 of Regulation S-T. These amendments primarily seek to (a) mitigate the risk of unregistered distributions in connection with sales of market-adjustable securities under the current Rule 144 safe harbor by revising the holding period for such securities to begin upon the conversion or exchange of such securities, and (b) update and streamline Form 144 by mandating electronic filing and eliminating the Form 144 filing requirement with respect to non-reporting issuers. Comments on the proposed rules will be due 60 days after publication of the proposal in the Federal Register and may be submitted electronically using the SEC’s internet comment form (http://www.sec.gov/rules/submitcomments.htm) or by mail to the following address: Vanessa A. Countryman, Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549-1090. All submissions should refer to File Number S7-24-20. Read More »
