What Canadian Companies and Their Advisers
Need to Know about U.S. Law
Chris helps clients raise money by selling equity and debt, buy and sell assets and businesses, manage their SEC disclosures, implement corporate governance structures, list on stock exchanges, and establish equity-based compensation arrangements. He currently serves as the head of Seattle’s Corporate department and co-chair of the Canada Cross-Border Practice Group.
About 18 months have passed since the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published its bold attempt to modernize the disclosure requirements for mining companies that are listed on U.S. stock exchanges or otherwise report to the SEC. With final rules not yet adopted, the fight for a streamlined reporting regime continues. The SEC’s proposed...
Over the last few years, many Canadian junior resource companies and startup companies have cut back on their legal spend, not necessarily undertaking a legal review of each new private placement of securities, or limiting their review to a Canadian one. Yet over this same time frame, the applicable U.S. rules and relevant interpretations have...
On September 5, 2017, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed (by a vote of 403-3) the Improving Access to Capital Act. The Act directs the SEC to amend Regulation A+ to allow SEC reporting issuers to use Regulation A+ when raising capital, and to deem their SEC periodic reports to satisfy the periodic and...
Readers listed on the NYSE will want to note a recent rule change. Effective immediately, notification of public announcements regarding dividends or stock distributions must be provided to the NYSE at least ten minutes prior to public release, even after market close. Read more in the post from our partner Jason Brenkert here: https://governancecomplianceinsider.com/nyse-rule-change-requires-ten-minutes-advance-notice-of-public-announcement-of-dividends-or-stock-distributions/
This week the SEC Division of Economic and Risk Analysis published a new report including a wealth of data regarding recent trends in public offerings and private placements of securities. The report includes a number of interesting facts about U.S. private placement practice, including: In the last few years, issuers have raised 2-3 times more...
Occasionally, we will see Canadians or Canadian companies assume that they can authorize as many shares for issuance as they want when forming a Delaware corporation, or that they can authorize shares without par value. That’s technically true, but Delaware will make you pay dearly for it, up to $180,000 per company per year. A...
A Canadian company that proposes to grant stock options or other types of equity compensation to persons in the United States must comply with the securities laws of the state in which the recipient is located, unless the type of equity being issued (e.g., the underlying common shares, in the case of options to purchase...
Canadian manufacturers who sell products through U.S. distributors should ensure that they take appropriate action to establish their U.S. intellectual property rights, and to deal clearly with those rights in their cross-border distribution agreements. In a recent post on Dorsey’s IP blog, The TMCA, Sandra Edelman discusses the difficulties encountered by Covertech Fabricating, a Canadian...
This week, the SEC approved a rule that would require broker-dealers to settle most securities transactions on a T+2 basis (shortening the current regime from T+3), effective September 5, 2017. See additional information in the post from our partner Jason Brenkert here. Will Canadian regulators follow suit?
In December 2015, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) announced an amended regime for a prospectus-exempt rights offering in Canada. This amended regime allows certain public companies in Canada to conduct a prospectus-exempt rights offering without prior CSA review of the rights offering circular, and using a greatly simplified rights offering circular that assumes, without incorporation...
Cross-Border Counselor is a collection of articles and timely updates about U.S. law issues of concern to Canadian companies that have assets, do business, raise funds or are listed for trading in the United States, as well as the attorneys, accountants and banks that advise them. Learn more about Dorsey’s Canada cross-border practice group here.
Christopher L. DoerksenChris helps clients raise money by selling equity and debt, buy and ...
James GuttmanJames advises publicly-traded companies and closely-held companies ...
Randal R. JonesRandy has over 25 years of experience counseling emerging, priv...
Aaron GoldsteinAaron is a Partner in Dorsey’s Labor & Employment group, where he brin...
John D. Hollinrake, Jr.John has over twenty-five years of experience advising clients on...
Kendall R. FisherKendall’s practice focuses on U.S. federal tax issues related to dome...
Marianne O'BaraMarianne works regularly with numerous non-U.S. companies and their l...
Wells ParkerWells is a Partner and co-chair of Dorsey’s Energy and Natural Resou...
Larry WardAs an international business attorney, Larry helps clients navigate com...
This blog is not legal advice, but contains general information not applicable to specific matters. We are not acting as your legal counsel unless separately retained in a written agreement signed by us.
Randal R. JonesCorporate, Seattle
Christopher L. DoerksenCorporate, Seattle
James GuttmanCorporate, Toronto
