2022 TechGC SPAC & Direct Listing Virtual Conference
Wednesday, February 16, 2022 ““ Thursday, February 17, 2022Virtual Event Cooley is proud to sponsor the 2022 TechGC SPAC & Direct Listing Virtual Conference. 2021 proved to be a banner year for SPACs and Direct Listings and today both options are officially viewed as mainstream. Given this change, what role […]
Delaware Finds Stockholder Claims Against SPAC Fiduciaries Subject to Entire Fairness Review
As SPAC IPOs broke records – in both value and volume – in 2020 (and again in 2021), it was inevitable that stockholder litigation would follow. More than 50% of the SPACs that went public in 2020 and 2021 are incorporated in Delaware, giving particular significance to SPAC litigation filed […]
UK Financial Conduct Authority Changes Listing Rules to Boost Growth and Innovation
On 2 December 2021, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) confirmed a series of rule changes designed to remove immediate barriers to listing, make its rulebooks more accessible, and protect and enhance market integrity. These changes came into force on 3 December 2021, except for minor changes to modernise and […]
Gensler on SPACs: Treat Like Cases Alike
What could Aristotle possibly have to say about SPACs? In remarks on Thursday before the Healthy Markets Association, SEC Chair Gary Gensler shared his thoughts on the regulation of SPACs with a theme drawn from antiquity: Aristotle’s maxim that we must “œtreat like cases alike. ” That concept, in Gensler’s […]
More SPAC restatements on the way?
It’s been weeks since the SEC last took SPACs to task! According to Bloomberg, the SEC is now requiring many SPACs to “œBig R ” restate their financial statements because they tripped over the classification of certain shares they offered to investors. Auditors with whom Bloomberg spoke said that the […]
Berkeley Fall Forum on Corporate Governance
Cooley and the Berkeley Center for Law and Business met for a two-day hybrid conference, featuring panel discussions, workshops and interviews on cutting-edge topics in corporate governance, M&A and business law. The Berkeley Forum was hosted live in San Francisco, in accordance with local safety regulations and vaccine mandates, and […]
2021 Update: 10 Key Considerations for Going Public with a SPAC
It is a reasonable extrapolation – and we are nothing at Cooley if not wildly reasonable – that, since the beginning of time, more operating companies are considering going public through a merger with a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company). While the number of SPAC IPOs may have peaked in […]
9th Circuit Decides Section 11 Standing in a Direct Listing
When the SEC was considering the NYSE’s proposal to permit direct listings of primary offerings, one of the frequently raised problems related to the potential “œvulnerability ” of “œshareholder legal rights under Section 11 of the Securities Act. ” Section 11 provides standing to sue for misstatements in a registration statement to […]
Past Event: 2021 TechGC + TechCFO IPO Forum
Cooley is a proud sponsor of the 2021 TechGC + TechCFO IPO Forum “œMastering the Intersection of Company Culture and the IPO Process. ” Checklists and processes are static, but company culture is dynamic. With the backdrop of one of the busiest IPO years in recent memory, GCs are facing […]
SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee to Consider Recommendations Regarding SPACs
Tomorrow, in addition to Rule 10b5-1 plan recommendations (see this PubCo post), the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee is slated to take up draft subcommittee recommendations regarding SPACs. The new SPAC recommendations address SPAC regulatory and investor protection issues that have been under scrutiny as a result of the proliferation of SPACs in […]