On December 8, the U.S. SEC released a statement regarding non-public submissions of initial registration statements by foreign private issuers. Historically, the SEC has allowed foreign private issuers (FPIs) to submit initial registration statements on a non-public basis for staff review prior to a public filing since the majority of FPIs were traded on foreign exchanges where there were no requirements to publicly disclose such statements before the completion of a regulatory review.
According to the SEC, however, most FPIs now making use of the non-public review process do not have securities listed outside the U.S. Consequently, the SEC has decided to generally limit its policy respecting the non-public submission of such initial registration statements to circumstances where the registrant is: (i) a foreign government registering its debt securities; (ii) a foreign private issuer that is listed or is concurrently listing its securities on a non-U.S. securities exchange; (iii) an FPI that is being privatized by a foreign government; or (iv) an FPI that can demonstrate that the public filing of an initial registration statement would conflict with the law of an applicable foreign jurisdiction. The change in policy took effect on December 8.
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