RM Crowd Heads North - Part III

In this last report from the Toronto Reverse Merger Conference, there was some discussion about the latest developments in the stock markets and regulatory environment. A few snippets:

• FINRA’s plan to establish a “quotation collection facility” or QCF is meeting strong opposition from Pink OTC Markets and others as a method to “steal quotes” from other quotation services. The QCF would try to collect all over-the-counter quotes and disseminate them in real time. This needs SEC approval. Currently Pink has about four times as many quotes as FINRA. Meantime, a FINRA representative indicated, as previously reported here, that they are close to selling the OTC Bulletin Board.
• The current version of the securities reform legislation in Congress includes a “say on pay” provision that would give shareholders a vote in certain circumstances on executive compensation of public companies.
• The legislation also requires registration of hedge and private equity funds (venture funds are excluded - good lobbying!), which will include compliance regimes and regular inspections. Can you say Cayman Islands?
• As we have covered here, it looks like the good news is that smaller public companies will be permanently exempt from Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404(b) requiring auditors to attest to the adequacy of a company’s internal financial controls.

I am headed to Chicago in two weeks to speak at an M&A conference, then to LA for meetings with clients. Busy summer….things absolutely picking up deal wise as well, I hope that’s also true for you! Have a great weekend all..

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