As We Start a New School Year…RM Wish List
By David Feldman at 3 September, 2009, 5:55 am
My children are ready. My big one already back in college. My little one getting ready for the big jump to second grade. There is a chill in the air here in NY in the evenings. Yep, it’s a new school year. So I thought I’d use this occasion to provide for my hopes for the IPO alternative world in the “school year” to come….
1. I hope that the SEC will reverse the onerous and ill-advised “evergreen requirement” in Rule 144(i) adopted last year.
2. I hope that PIPE funds expand their interest in less liquid but in many cases much more profitable investments in going public transactions.
3. I hope that WestPark Capital’s WRASP concept continues to catch on, as it already has with at least three other broker-dealers active in this space, and that more and more players see the benefits of Form 10 shells as a clean, inexpensive and efficient vehicle to take a company public and raise capital more quickly than without a shell.
4. I hope that SPACs return in an evolved form to make them more attractive to both companies and investors.
5. I hope that the SEC steps up its enforcement efforts against fraudulent operators of shell companies (I actually hear that this really really may be happening).
6. I hope that the SEC will begin to consider a potential modernization of the now somewhat archaic Rule 419 limiting registrations by shell companies raising less than $5 million.
7. I hope that the IPO market for smaller companies returns. Why do I hope this? Because I believe that IPOs make sense in certain circumstances and I am happy to work as counsel in any type of going public transaction. Also, reverse mergers and IPO alternatives generally remain strong and active even when the IPO market is strong.
8. I hope that hundreds more companies from outside the US, in particular China, discover the benefits of a public trading stock in the US.
9. I hope that everyone buys the new edition of my book when it comes out in December!
For my American friends, have a happy and safe Labor Day!
I was wandering if you have a list of reverve merger deals for the last year? I am tracking them…
Dalton – DealFlow Media and their Placement Tracker have all the deals, but you have to subscribe to their service. You can see more at http://www.dealflowmedia.com. Good luck!