On January 3, 2014 the Staff of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance updated the Securities Act Rules Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations to address a number of interpretive issues under the “bad actor” disqualification provisions that are now a part of Rule 506 of Regulation D.  The new interpretations are as follows:

Question 260.28

Question: Is a shareholder that becomes a 20% beneficial owner by purchasing securities in an offering a covered person with respect to that offering?

Answer: Rule 506(d) looks to the time of each sale of securities, and provides that no exemption will be available for the sale if any covered person is subject to a bad actor triggering event at that time. A shareholder that becomes a 20% beneficial owner upon completion of a sale of securities is not a 20% beneficial owner at the time of the sale. However, it would be a covered person with respect to any sales of securities in the offering that were made while it was a 20% beneficial owner. [Jan. 3, 2014]

Question 260.29

Question: Is the term “beneficial owner” in Rule 506(d) interpreted the same way as under Exchange Act Rule 13d-3?

Answer: Yes, “beneficial owner” under Rule 506(d) means any person who, directly or indirectly, through any contract, arrangement, understanding, relationship or otherwise, under Exchange Act Rule 13d-3 has or shares, or is deemed to have or share: (1) voting power, which includes the power to vote, or to direct the voting of, such security; and/or (2) investment power, which includes the power to dispose, or to direct the disposition of, such security. [Jan. 3, 2014]

Question 260.30

Question: For purposes of determining 20% beneficial owners under Rule 506(d), is it necessary to “look through” entities to their controlling persons?

Answer: Beneficial ownership includes both direct and indirect interests, determined as under Exchange Act Rule 13d-3. [Jan. 3, 2014]

Question 260.31

Question: Some of the shareholders of a Rule 506 issuer have entered into a voting agreement under which each shareholder agrees to vote its shares of voting equity securities in favor of director candidates designated by one or more of the other parties. Are the parties to the agreement required to aggregate their holdings for purposes of determining whether they as a group are, or any single party is, a 20% beneficial owner of the issuer and, therefore, a covered person under Rule 506(d)?

Answer: Beneficial ownership of group members and groups should be analyzed the same as under Exchange Act Rules 13d-3 and 13d-5(b). Under that analysis, the shareholders have formed a group, and the group beneficially owns the shares beneficially owned by its members. In addition, the parties to the voting agreement that have or share the power to vote or direct the vote of shares beneficially owned by other parties to the agreement (through, for example, the receipt of an irrevocable proxy or the right to designate director nominees for whom the other parties have agreed to vote) will beneficially own such shares. Parties that do not have or share the power to vote or direct the vote of other parties’ shares would not beneficially own such shares solely as a result of entering into the voting agreement. See Exchange Act Sections 13(d) and 13(g) and Regulation 13D-G Beneficial Ownership Reporting CDI 105.06. If the group is a 20% beneficial owner, then disqualification or disclosure obligations would arise from court orders, injunctions, regulatory orders or other triggering events against the group itself. If a party to the voting agreement becomes a 20% beneficial owner because shares of other parties are added to its beneficial ownership, disqualification or disclosure obligations would arise from triggering events against that party. [Jan. 3, 2014]

Question 260.32

Question: Does an order issued by a court or regulator, in accordance with Rule 506(d)(2)(iii), waive the disclosure obligation set forth in Rule 506(e)?

Answer: No. The disclosure obligation in Rule 506(e) pertains to an issuer’s obligation to provide investors disclosure of disqualifying events that would have triggered disqualification, except that these events occurred before September 23, 2013. Rule 506(d)(2)(iii) permits issuers to rely on the self-executing statement of a regulatory authority to avoid Rule 506 disqualification when that regulatory authority advises the Commission in writing or in its order, decree or judgment, that Rule 506 disqualification should not arise a consequence of a disqualifying event that occurred on or after September 23, 2013.

A regulatory authority such as a state securities commission may, however, determine that an order entered before September 23, 2013 would not have triggered disqualification under Rule 506(d)(1) because the violation was not a final order based on a violation of any law or regulation that prohibits fraudulent, manipulative, or deceptive conduct entered within ten years before such sale. [Jan. 3, 2014]