In a win for activist shareholders, on November 17, 2021, the SEC voted to adopt final rules requiring the use in contested director elections of domestic issuers of "universal proxy cards," or proxy cards naming all director...more
In a landmark action, the US Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") filed a complaint alleging insider trading that expands the potential reach of insider trading law. On August 17, 2021, the SEC charged a former employee...more
While ESG issues have been a "hot topic" for several years, in recent weeks, the SEC has significantly increased its focus on the topic, paying particular attention to climate:
- Corp Fin to Focus on Climate Disclosure: On...more
This memorandum outlines key considerations from White & Case's Public Company Advisory Practice for US public companies in preparation for the 2021 annual reporting and proxy season.
Section I of this memo, which was...more
3/9/2021
/ Annual Reports ,
CD&A ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Form 10-K ,
Glass Lewis ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Pay Ratio ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Statements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
This is Part I of a two-part memorandum series outlining key considerations from White & Case’s Public Company Advisory Group for US public companies during the 2021 annual reporting and proxy season.
Part I of this memo...more
On December 1, 2020, Nasdaq submitted a proposal to the SEC to adopt new listing rules related to board diversity and disclosure. If approved by the SEC, the new listing rules would require most Nasdaq-listed companies to...more
On November 12, 2020, Institutional Shareholder Services ("ISS") announced its policy updates for the 2021 proxy season, effective for meetings on or after February 1, 2021. Key updates include the following...more
11/30/2020
/ Benchmarks ,
Board of Directors ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Governance ,
Diversity ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Exclusive Forum ,
Fee-Shifting ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Proxy Season ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Shareholder Proposals
On October 16, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") adopted amendments to certain auditor independence requirements in Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X. The amendments modernize the rules and "more effectively...more
11/11/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Affiliates ,
Audit Reports ,
Auditor Independence ,
Beneficial Owner ,
FASB ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Reporting ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Investor Protection ,
Loan Provision ,
Mergers ,
Private Equity Funds ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-X ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On August 26, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") adopted amendments to crucial SEC disclosure requirements under Regulation S-K, including Item 101 (Description of Business), Item 103 (Legal Proceedings)...more
9/5/2020
/ Amended Rules ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Human Capital ,
Item 101 ,
Item 103 ,
Item 105 ,
Modernization ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Risk Factors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On April 2, 2020, the proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis announced that unedited company feedback may now be included with its proxy research reports and provided “directly to the voting decision makers at every investor...more
In light of the continuing impact COVID-19 is having on public companies, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC" or the "Commission") has taken several actions to provide "temporary, targeted relief to issuers"...more
On March 19, 2020, Glass Lewis announced that for the duration of the 2020 proxy season, it will "take into account the extenuating circumstance of the COVID-19 pandemic when applying [its] policy on virtual-only shareholder...more
March 14, 2020, the staff (the “Staff”) of the Division of Corporation Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or the “Commission”) provided helpful guidance to issuers, shareholders and other market...more
3/20/2020
/ Annual Meeting ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Collaboration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corp Fin ,
Corporate Issuers ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Virtual Meetings
Activism affects virtually everyone now—even those who may never have to deal with an activist -
If you’re still nursing doubts about whether activism has a broad effect on M&A, it may be time to put them to bed....more
Half of the executives in our survey expect to do more deals if there's a downturn in 2020 than if there isn't.
Dealmakers were optimistic heading into 2020. The coronavirus outbreak has changed things, but we believe that...more
3/13/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Banks ,
Capital Markets ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Financial Markets ,
Global Dealmaking ,
Mergers ,
Private Equity Funds ,
Stock Markets ,
Surveys ,
Trading Suspension
On March 4, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) issued an order (the “Order”) providing that, subject to certain conditions, public companies and other persons required to make filings with the SEC, would...more
The recent proposal by the SEC would eliminate overlapping or unnecessary disclosures and promote a principles-based approach to MD&A.
Background -
On January 30, 2020, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (the...more
The release of MD&A interpretive guidance on KPIs and metrics reinforces their key role in company disclosure.
On January 30, 2020, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) published guidance on the disclosure...more
On January 24, 2020, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance released three new compliance and disclosure interpretations (“C&DIs”) related to revised Instruction 1 to Item 303(a) of Regulation S-K (“Instruction 1”),...more
2/10/2020
/ C&DIs ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Financial Reporting ,
Financial Statements ,
Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) ,
Incorporation by Reference ,
MD&A Statements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Registration Requirement ,
Regulation S-K ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
In a significant development for ESG and corporate governance, BlackRock is now calling on the public companies it invests in to publish disclosures in line with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and the...more
1/27/2020
/ Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule ,
BlackRock ,
Board of Directors ,
Clean Energy ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Gender Equity ,
Individual Accountability ,
Popular ,
Proxy Season ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
SASB ,
Sustainability ,
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ,
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) ,
United Nations
This memorandum outlines key considerations from White & Case’s Public Company Advisory Practice for foreign private issuers (“FPIs”) in preparation for the 2020 annual reporting season. It describes our key considerations...more
1/23/2020
/ Annual Reports ,
C&DIs ,
Confidential Information ,
Corp Fin ,
Critical Audit Matters (CAMs) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) ,
Foreign Private Issuers ,
Form 20-F ,
IFRS ,
Libor ,
Non-GAAP Financial Measures ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
PCAOB ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Risk Factors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
State Sponsors of Terrorism ,
UK Brexit ,
XBRL Filing Requirements
This memorandum outlines key considerations from White & Case's Public Company Advisory Practice for US public companies in preparation for the 2020 annual reporting and proxy season.
Section I of this memo describes our...more
In light of the heightened focus on environmental and social (“E&S”) disclosure, White & Case’s Public Company Advisory Group conducted a survey of E&S website disclosures of 84 small- and mid-cap US public reporting...more
12/5/2019
/ Capitalization ,
Common Reporting Standard (CRS) ,
Corporate Governance ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Health and Safety ,
Human Rights ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Life Sciences ,
Public Disclosure ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Retailers ,
Services ,
Surveys ,
Sustainability ,
Technology Sector ,
Websites
On November 5, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) proposed amendments to the federal proxy rules that would enhance the SEC’s regulation of proxy advisory firms.1 The proposed amendments to Rules 14a-1,...more
11/22/2019
/ Anti-Fraud Provisions ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Exemptions ,
Filing Requirements ,
Glass Lewis ,
Information Statements ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proxy Advisory Firms ,
Proxy Materials ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Public Comment ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Safe Harbors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Solicitation ,
Transitional Arrangements
On November 11, 2019, Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc. (“ISS”) published its proxy voting guidelines updates (the “2020 Updates”) for the 2020 proxy season, effective for meetings on or after February 1, 2020. The...more
11/19/2019
/ Board of Directors ,
Bylaws ,
Capital Structures ,
Corporate Governance ,
Diversity ,
Equity Compensation ,
Guidance Update ,
Independent Directors ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Nominee Directors ,
Pay Gap ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Voting ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Shareholder Rights ,
Stock Repurchases