Ahead of ringing in the new year, staff members at the SEC have been busy. A series of new regulatory proposals that were revealed Wednesday came with potentially broad-ranging implications that have generated a good bit of commentary.
Here are some of the highlights:
To start, the SEC is seeking more transparency on investors building derivative positions in public companies – essentially something like 13D disclosures for large derivatives trades. While the core of this proposed rule seems to be guarding against systemic risk in the wake of the Archegos meltdown, observers have rightly speculated how added disclosure requirements will affect activists’ ability to silently build up stakes in some of their targets.
It remains to be seen how the proposed rules will affect not only governance matters, but also treasury and corporate finance decisions for management teams going forward.
One thing is for sure, the number of filings we see from issuers will most certainly increase in 2022.
This is our last newsletter of 2021, we wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season!