Managing a growing company can be extremely difficult, and is all the more so if done without lawyers and the legal advice they provide, particularly when it comes to corporate securities law. In 2014 alone, the SEC charged 80 different people in cases involving trading based on insider information. These kinds of cases can be devastating to any company, and are entirely avoidable. With the help of an IPO attorney and securities law firms, companies can continue growing without making fatal mistakes.
Emerging Growth: What It Means
An emerging growth company is a company that has had a total gross annual revenues of less than $1 billion during its most recent full fiscal year. The other qualification, as of December 8, 2011, is that the company must also have not sold common equity securities under a registration statement. If, however, a company has registered a class of equity securities under the Exchange Act, any shareholder that has acquired more than 5% of the outstanding shares must file a beneficial owner report. Any questions about this process should be addressed with a corporate securities law firm.
Recent Problems In The Corporate World
Whether due to a lack of knowledge of corporate securities law or due to other reasons, the corporate world has recently been mired in legal problems. For example, the fiscal year of 2014 saw 52 SEC enforcement actions taken against insider trading. In that same year, the SEC charged more than 135 parties with violations related to reports and disclosures. An enforcement report has also indicated that 2014 had a record number of 755 enforcement actions taken, pooling a total of $4.1 billion in disgorgement and penalties.
IPO Proceeds: Still Growing
Despite all of the actions taken by the SEC, IPO proceeds continue to grow. 2013 saw a high point of $55 billion that was then trumped by $85 billion in 2014. This is partially because 275 IPOs were completed in 2014, eclipsing the 2013 total of 222 by over 23%. 7 of those IPOs were over a billion dollars, with the IPO proceeds overall increasing by 82% compared to those collected in 2013.
There is good news and bad news to be taken from all of this information. With all of this growth despite the SEC’s legal action, it’s clear that growing a company and reaping the benefits from an IPO is more possible than ever. What is so necessary in these dealings is a good IPO attorney to help manage things like private placement offerings and private placement securities. That way, a company can build itself with the proper legal advice needed, and the risk of mistakes is nearly non … existent.
