What Does The SEC Approved NASDAQ Diversity Proposal Mean For Boards?
Financing Challenges for Small Cap Companies
On August 26, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an order approving proposed amendments by The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (Nasdaq) to clarify and modify the phase-in schedules for certain corporate...more
Welcome to the latest edition of Fenwick’s Securities Law Update. This issue contains updates and important reminders on...more
On August 26, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an order granting approval of The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC’s (Nasdaq’s) proposed rule change, to Nasdaq Rules 5605, 5615, and 5810. These amendments...more
In May, Nasdaq proposed to revise some of its corporate governance rules—specifically Rules 5605, 5615 and 5810—to modify the phase-in schedules for the independent director and committee requirements in connection with a...more
The legal and regulatory landscape for MicroCap investing is ever-evolving, including challenges involving compliance with the rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and securities exchanges including...more
Nasdaq has proposed to modify some of its corporate governance rules—specifically Rules 5605, 5615 and 5810—to modify the phase-in schedules for the independent director and committee requirements in connection with IPOs,...more
*This piece appears in PitchBook’s 2023 Annual US VC Valuations Report. We believe this is the wrong question—we view a reverse merger as "going public" during your cross-over round, rather than as an alternative to an IPO...more
The SEC on January 24, 2024 adopted final rules amending the disclosure and registration requirements applicable to special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) and shell companies that register or file reports with the SEC....more
Welcome to the White & Case US SPACs Data Hub, which provides a quarterly review and analysis of key drivers and trends behind US SPAC IPO and de-SPAC activity. ...more
In December 2020, then-US president Donald J. Trump signed into law the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (the "HFCAA"). This law is just one measure, among many, that have been promulgated by legislative and...more
US de-SPAC M&A deal value has contracted significantly during the first half of 2022, sliding from US$231.31 billion during the buoyant H1 2021 period to just US$26.29 billion for H1 2022. A wider M&A slowdown as a result of...more
As we predicted in the previous edition of this report, 2021 turned out to be a very strong year indeed for US life sciences dealmaking, marked by high transaction values and volumes as the industry continued on its...more
US De-SPAC M&A Commentary - US De-SPAC M&A deal value totaled US$8.13 billion from 16 De-SPAC deals in Q1 2022. This was significantly lower than the record US$155.43 billion of De-SPAC deal value from 81 deals reported at...more
[Editor's Note (1/25/22): This article includes an update regarding the amended rule proposal Nasdaq filed with the SEC in January 2022.] [Editor's Note (6/1/21): This article includes an update regarding a proposed rule...more
Stable Road Enforcement Action Post Mortem: Lessons for the SPAC Market After Momentus Begins Trading - Stable Road And Momentus Close Business Combination. On August 11, Stable Road Acquisition Corp., a special purpose...more
Fabry-Pérot Interferometer, SA is a highly successful non-US company known to the world as FPI. FPI is considering doing a debt or equity offering in the United States. What are the key legal issues it, and its underwriters...more
The resurgence of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) as an alternative to traditional IPOs was one of the major talking points of 2020. SPACs enjoyed somewhat of a renaissance in 2020, particularly in the United...more
In our prior article on the latest and greatest in direct listings, we noted that we were expecting that Nasdaq would follow the NYSE’s lead to allow for capital raising concurrently with a direct listing. On May 19, 2021,...more
Over the past year, the use of Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, or SPACs, to go public has skyrocketed. As The Wall Street Journal explained, “With interest rates on the floor and investors chasing young companies, this...more
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (“SPACs”) played a critical role in U.S. capital market growth in 2020. There were 248 SPACs launched, raising an aggregate of $83 billion in proceeds. The beginning of 2021 witnessed an...more
Transactions by special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, exploded in 2020, resulting in a 320% increase in the number of SPAC initial public offerings (IPOs) compared to 2019. SPACs have been around for 15 years and...more
On December 22, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved a proposal by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) that allows companies going public via a direct listing to issue new shares and raise capital...more
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has approved New York Stock Exchange rule changes that will grant the exchange discretion to allow companies to raise money by selling common shares in registered direct offerings,...more
The Situation: In August 2020, the Division of Trading and Markets ("Division") of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") approved proposed rule changes by the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") to permit primary...more
What you need to know about this IPO alternative - On December 22, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved a NYSE rule that permits an issuer, at the time of an initial listing on the NYSE, to conduct a...more