The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published for a 90 day comment period proposed amendments to National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions and CSA Staff Notice (NI 45-106), National Instrument 13-101 System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (NI 13-101) and National Instrument 45-102 Resale of Securities (NI 45-102) to introduce a new capital raising exemption for reporting issuers that are listed on a Canadian stock exchange (Listed Issuer Financing Exemption).
Continue Reading Canadian Securities Administrators Propose New Prospectus Exemption for Listed Issuers

On December 22, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed an action against Ripple Labs Inc. (“Ripple”), Christian Larsen, the company’s co-founder, executive chairman of its board, and former CEO; and Bradley Garlinghouse, the company’s current CEO (together, the “Defendants”) for conducting an unregistered securities offering with a total value of US$1.38 billion.

On December 1, 2020, the TSX Venture Exchange (Exchange) issued a news release to announce changes to its Capital Pool Company (CPC) program that will come into force on January 1, 2021.  The CPC program is a way for private companies to go public in Canada. The CPC program enables seasoned directors and officers to form a CPC, raise a pool of capital and list the CPC on the Exchange with no assets other than cash and no commercial operations. The CPC then uses the capital raised to identify a private operating company to complete a qualifying transaction with the CPC (Qualifying Transaction). After the CPC has completed its Qualifying Transaction, the resulting issuer’s shares trade as a regular listing on the Exchange.

The Exchange advised that the changes are aimed at providing increased flexibility by included additional jurisdictions, easing the residency requirements and simplifying spending restriction.  The changes are also aimed at reducing regulatory burden by relaxing the requirements on shareholder distribution and shareholder approvals.
Continue Reading TSX Venture Exchange Adopts Changes to Capital Pool Company Policies

Overview

In an effort to reduce the regulatory burden for issuers who wish to conduct “at-the-market” (“ATM”) offerings in Canada and facilitate capital raising by public companies, the Canadian Securities Administrators (the “CSA”) announced significant amendments (the “Amendments”) to the ATM distribution regime under National Instrument 44-102 – Shelf

“At-The-Market”, or ATM, offerings are likely to continue gaining traction in Canada following the publication of a notice of amendments (the Amendments) to National Instrument 44-102 Shelf Distributions (NI 44-102) by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA). The key features of the Amendments are as follows:

  • The Amendments will come into

On June 4, 2019, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Kik Interactive Inc. (Kik), a privately-held Canadian corporation based in Waterloo, Ontario, for conducting an unregistered securities offering of its digital token “Kin” in violation of section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933. The SEC is seeking a permanent injunction, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, and civil penalties against Kik.
Continue Reading Alive and Kik-ing: Kik Interactive Faces SEC Action but Vows to Fight Back

On April 7, 2016, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published amendments (Amendments) to the reporting requirements in National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions (NI 45-106).  The amendments were previously published for public comment on August 13, 2015.  Concurrently, the CSA published CSA Staff Notice 45-308 (Revised) Guidance for Preparing and Filing Reports of Exempt Distribution under 45-106 (CSA Notice 45-308) which provides helpful information for industry participants in navigating through the Amendments which come into force on June 30, 2016.

Background

Current Reporting Forms

The reporting forms required to report an exempt distribution presently consist of two forms, being Form 45-106F6 British Columbia Report of Exempt Distribution (Form 45-106F6) which is used for distributions in British Columbia and Form 45-106F1 Report of Exempt Distribution (Form 45-106F1) which is used for distributions in all other Canadian jurisdictions.  Issuers who meet an exemption under BC Instrument 45-533 may file a Form 45-106F1 in British Columbia instead of filing a Form 45-106F6.

As described below, the amendments replace Form 45-106F1 and Form 45-106F6 with a single, new Form 45-106F1 (New Form 45-106F1).

Current Filing Systems

Form 45-106F1 or Form 45-106F6, as applicable, are filed with the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) through the BCSC eServices website and issuers are required to have a profile created on the BCSC eServices system before a filing can be completed.  Issuers who have a System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) profile automatically have a profile existing in BCSC eServices.  Issuers who do not have a SEDAR profile are required to submit a profile form to the BCSC to create their profile on BCSC eServices at least 24 hours before they can submit the reporting form.  BCSC eServices requires the filer to enter a few pieces of information from the Form 45-106F1/F6 into certain fields on the eServices submission page before attaching the reporting documents and completing the submission.  The Form 45-106F1 or Form 45-106F6 is typically populated in Word format, and then converted into PDF format before being uploaded to BCSC eServices.  In addition, the schedules to Form 45-106F1 and Form 45-106F6 are removed and filed as separate PDF documents.

Form 45-106F1 filings with the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) are filed through the OSC’s Electronic Filing Portal (OSC Portal).  Unlike the BCSC eServices system, the OSC Portal does not require a profile to be created by an issuer in order to make a filing.  Also unlike the BCSC eServices system, where only a few pieces of information need to be entered into the submission page, the submission on the OSC Portal requires the filer to enter every piece of information in the entire Form 45-106F1 onto the submission page.  In addition, Schedule I to Form 45-106F1 must be completed in Excel format and uploaded to the submission page.  The Form 45-106F1 is typically originally populated in Word format, the Schedule I information is populated a second time in Excel format, and the filer populates the Form 45-106F1 in its entirety again electronically on the OSC Portal.  If the Form 45-106F1 is being filed only in Ontario, a filer may draft the Form 45-106F1 in the OSC Portal and the Excel version of Schedule I and forgo the creation of the Word version.

Currently, Form 45-106F1 filings in all other Canadian jurisdictions simply require the executed Form 45-106F1 to be mailed to the securities commission.  On May 24, 2016 the CSA will require the filing of Form 45-106F1 through SEDAR, subject to an exemption for foreign issuers outlined below.

Amendment Details

Investment Fund Filing Deadline

The amendments have changed the annual reporting deadline for investment funds to January 30 for the reporting of all distributions in the previous calendar year made using the exemptions in sections 2.3, 2.10 and 2.19 of NI 45-106.  Currently, investment funds have until 30 days after the end of the investments fund’s financial year.  The CSA have provided a transition period to allow investment fund issuers that file annually to file the current Form 45-106F1 or the New Form 45-106F1 for distributions that occur before January 1, 2017.

Format of Reporting Form

The amendments provide that all distributions on or after June 30, 2016 are to be reported using New Form 45-106F1 in all provinces and territories of Canada.  The New Form 45-106F1 replaces the current Form 45-106F1 and the current Form 45-106F6.  There are also two schedules to New Form 45-106F1, both of which are to be completed in Excel format.

Filing Systems

The New Form 45-106F1 will be filed with the BCSC through BCSC eServices, with the OSC through the OSC Portal and with all other jurisdictions through SEDAR (certain foreign issuers may still make paper filings, as provided below).  The New Form 45-106F1 can be drafted within the OSC Portal or within BCSC eServices and the filed version from the OSC Portal or BCSC eServices, along with the Excel versions of the two proposed schedules can be submitted to the other jurisdictions.

Exemption from Filing on SEDAR

Under National Instrument 13-101 System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR), a foreign issuer that falls within the definition of “foreign issuer (SEDAR)” is not required to use SEDAR and may continue to file paper copies in all jurisdictions other than Ontario and B.C. (both of which require the use of their electronic filing systems).  A foreign issuer can voluntarily elect to use SEDAR by filing a SEDAR Form 5 Notice of Election by Foreign Issuer(SEDAR).

Details Required in the New Form 45-106F1

The following is the list provided by the CSA in Annex 2 of CSA Notice 45-308:
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The various Canadian regulatory authorities recently overhauled how prospectus exempt rights offerings are to be conducted going forward, including allowing for larger financings to be completed in a shorter time frame with less extensive offering documents. As a result of these amendments (Amendments) which came into force on December 8, 2015, reporting issuers

Retail investors in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick (Participating Jurisdictions) now have a new option by which they can participate in private placements. The securities regulators in the Participating Jurisdictions have adopted a prospectus exemption (Exemption) that allows issuers listed on a Canadian exchange to raise money by distributing securities to retail