Staff of the Canadian Securities Administrators published a staff notice yesterday to highlight issues identified in reports of exempt distributions (private placements) filed under Form 45-106F1, and providing guidance relevant to the preparation of the form.
Issues identified by CSA Staff include: filing of the BC Form 45-106F6 outside of BC, failing to file on time or pay the required filing fee, failing to include a complete list of purchasers and to reconcile information in the form with what is reported in the schedule to the form, failing to disclose compensation that should be considered a "commission" or "finder's fee" and failing to certify the form. As we discussed in December, British Columbia recently adopted its own form of exempt trade report under Form 45-106F6, which requires more information than what is required in the F1 in certain circumstances.
Meanwhile, members of the CSA except Ontario also released a staff notice yesterday identifying deficiencies in offering memoranda prepared in accordance with Form 45-106F2 when relying on the "offering memorandum" exemption under section 2.9 of NI 45-106. Common deficiencies included failing to include sufficient information to allow a prospective purchaser to make an informed investment decision, inadequately disclosing available funds and use of available funds and omitting to include, among other things, key terms of material agreements. The notice also provides guidance for those intending to rely on the OM exemption of NI 45-106.
For more information, see CSA Staff Notice 45-308 and Multilateral CSA Staff Notice 45-309.
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