Report On Regulation A+ Primer
Report On Regulation A+ Primer
Report On Regulation A+ Primer
spearheading Flaster/
Greenberg's Crowdfunding
Practice. He speaks and writes
regularly on Crowdfunding.
A Regulation A+ Primer
Regulation A has labored in obscurity for more than 50 years, an unsightly and
forgotten understudy to glamorous headliners like Rule 506. All that changed March
26, 2015, when Regulation A, draped in finery and even given a new name boasting
its excellence, stepped into the spotlight, cameras clicking and flashbulbs popping.
In the Regulation A+ Primer, I hope to provide practical
guidance on the new star of the Crowdfunding universe.
Table of Contents
Why It Matters
Alternatives to Regulation A+
Eligible Securities
Offering Limits
State Preemption
Financial Statements
Ongoing Reporting
10
Limits on Investment
10
11
11
12
Resales of Securities
12
Number of Investors
12
Sales By Owners
13
Links
13
13
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Why It Matters
Regulation A+ allows issuers to raise up to $50
million per year from both accredited and nonaccredited investors at a reasonable cost, using the
Internet. Thats a big deal!
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To Conduct Offering
$75,000*
$20,000*
$5,000 - $10,000
$0
Regulation A+
Title II
*Depends on cost of financial audit
Time:
We can kick off a Title II offering in a week. At least initially, a Regulation A+ offering could take six months.
Confidentiality:
Regulation A+ requires highly granular disclosures,
very similar to a public offering, and the filings are
public. An issuer with a confidential business idea
might not like the idea of sharing her idea with the
whole world.
A few reasons not to worry too much about
confidentiality, however:
A business idea that is patented is protected, even
if everyone knows about it
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Alternatives to Regulation A+
If you dont need non-accredited investors, dont
use Regulation A+. Use Title II Crowdfunding
instead.
If you need non-accredited investors and live in a
state with intrastate Crowdfunding, think about
that.
Eligible Securities
You can sell just about any kind of security using
Regulation A+. Under Regulation A+ you can sell
equity securities, debt securities, and debt
securities convertible into equity securities. You
can sell securities of corporations and securities of
limited liability companies and limited
partnerships.
But you cant use Regulation A+ to sell an assetbacked security, meaning a security primarily
serviced by the cash flows of a discrete pool of
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Offering Limits
An issuer can raise $20 million under Tier 1, $50
million under Tier 2.
The offering limits are per issuer.
EXAMPLE: Issuer X raises $30 million for
Project A. Within the same 12 month period,
Issuer X can raise only $20 million for Project B.
The offering limits apply to 12 month periods.
EXAMPLE: Issuer X raises $30 million for
Project A. Twelve months later, Issuer X can
raise another $50 million for Project A, or for
Project B.
The offering limits apply only to money raised using
Regulation A+ (Tier 1 or Tier 2).
EXAMPLE: Issuer X raises $30 million for
Project A using Tier 2 of Regulation A+.
Tapping the overseas market, Issuer X can
simultaneously raise $40 million from China for
Project A using Regulation S.
The normal integration rules apply to money
raised by affiliates of the issuer.
EXAMPLE: Issuer X uses Regulation A+ to raise
$30 million for Project A, a commercial
development in Chicago. Within the same 12
months, Issuer Y, an affiliate of Issuer X
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State Preemption
Apart from the new offering limits - $20 million
under Tier 1 and $50 million under Tier 2 - the most
important thing about Regulation A+ is that Tier 2
offerings are not subject to state registration and
merit review.
EXAMPLE: Issuer X, based in Illinois, wants to
raise money from non-accredited investors in
the Midwest and also in Texas, California, and
New York. Under old Regulation A (and
continuing in Tier 1), Issuer X was required to
register with, and get the approval of, not just
the SEC, but every state where it raises money.
Under Tier 2 of Regulation A+, Issuer X is
required only to register with and get the
approval of the SEC.
State preemption is even more important than the
offering limits. If issuers had to register with every
state, as they did under old Regulation A, you could
raise the offering limits to $100 million and it
wouldnt do much good.
State preemption means that an issuer is not
required to register with and obtain the approval
of state securities regulators. However, state
regulators retain the authority to:
Investigate and prosecute securities fraud
Require issuers to file any documents filed with
the SEC
Require issuers to consent to service of process
and pay filing fees
NASAA, the National Association of Securities
Administrators Association, absolutely hates state
preemption. Their furious opposition is what
delayed adoption of the final Regulation A+ rules,
and they will likely file a lawsuit within the next
several weeks alleging that the regulations are
invalid because the SEC overstepped its bounds.
Should that lawsuit be successful, state preemption
would be back to square one.
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Financial Statements
Tier 2 issuers are required to provide two years of
audited financial statements. For U.S. issuers the
financial statements must be prepared in
accordance with generally accepted accounting
principles (GAAP) while for Canadian issuers the
financial statements may be prepared in
accordance with GAAP or with International
Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as issued by
the International Accounting Standards Board
(IASB).
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Ongoing Reporting
Issuers in Tier 1 offerings are not subject to any
ongoing reporting requirements except a Form 1-Z
to report the completion of the offering.
The story is more complicated for issuers in Tier 2
offerings. Conceptually, the issuer is required to
file:
Annual reports, using Form 1-K, including
information on business operations, related
party transactions, beneficial ownership of voting
securities, identification of directors, executive
officers and significant employees, executive
compensation data for the three most highly
paid officers, a management discussion, and two
years of financial statements
Semiannual reports, using Form 1-SA, including
(unaudited) interim financial statements and a
management discussion
Limits on Investment
Anyone can invest under Regulation A+, accredited
and non-accredited, U.S. investors and non-U.S.
investors.
In a Tier 2 offering of securities that will not be
listed on national exchange, a non-accredited
investor is limited to investing the greater of 10%
of her annual income or 10% of her net worth,
excluding her principal residence. Thats a peroffering limit, not a per-investor limit.
EXAMPLE: Non-accredited Investor Y earns
$75,000 per year and has a net worth is
$250,000. She may invest $25,000 in Company
A, $25,000 in Company B, $25,000 in Company
C, and so forth.
In the case of a non-accredited investor that is not
a human being, the 10% limit is applied to revenue
and net assets rather than to income and net
worth.
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CAUTION: The JOBS Act exemption from brokerdealer registration does not apply to Regulation A+
offerings. So if youre relying on that exemption
which you probably shouldnt be anyway you might
need to register as, or affiliate with, a broker-dealer.
Resales of Securities
Securities purchased in a Title II offering are subject
to Rule 144, which limits resales for specified
periods of time. In contrast, securities purchased in
a Regulation A+ offering may be sold the very next
day, at least as far as the securities laws are
concerned. The issuer, of course, is likely to impose
contractual restrictions on transfers.
None of this will matter much until we have a
robust secondary market for Crowdfunded
securities. That was the gist of Commissioner
Number of Investors
A company with more than 2,000 shareholders, or
more than 500 non-accredited shareholders, is
generally required to register with the SEC. A
shareholder who acquired his stock in a Regulation
A+ offering will not be counted toward those limits
under certain limited circumstances.
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Sales By Owners
Unlike Title II Crowdfunding, which allows sales
only by issuers, Regulation A+ allows the existing
stockholders of an issuer to sell shares as well, in
effect cashing out. However, sales by existing
owners are limited.
At the time of the Regulation A+ offering and for 12
months afterward, sales by existing stockholders
cannot exceed 30% of the aggregate offering price.
So, for example, if the aggregate price of all
securities offered, by the issuer and the existing
stockholders, is $15 million, then during the first
year existing stockholders may sell no more than
$4.5 million.
After that 12 month period, it depends on whether
the selling stockholder is an affiliate of the issuer:
Affiliates may sell no more than $6 million of stock
if the offering was under Tier 1, or $15 million if
the offering was under Tier 2.
Non-affiliates may sell as much stock as they like,
subject only to the maximum offering limits, i.e.,
$20 million for Tier 1 and $50 million for Tier 2.
Links
Here are links to:
The final regulations and the SEC preamble
Title IV of the JOBS Act
The statements issued by the SEC Commissioners with the final regulations