A debt initial public offering (IPO) provides a viable alternative to the challenging traditional equity IPO to gain access to public markets for growth capital. For the right company at the right time under the right circumstances, it might make sense.
The SEC has recently permitted public companies with remote-first operations to circumvent the requirement that they report an address and phone number for their principal executive offices on the cover page of their Form S-1 registration statements. Is this a reflection of the “new normal” and, if so, has the SEC answered through these filings the fundamental question whether there is any longer a purpose for disclosing the location of a registrant’s principal executive offices?
Letters to prospective investors like those included in the Lyft and Uber IPO prospectuses may be symbolic gestures by founders, chairpersons and CEOs to lead the selling effort, but nonetheless provide an insight into the unique mission, core beliefs and “karma” of today’s newest IPO companies, with the SEC closely monitoring the bounds of this informal disclosure.
The SEC embraces regulatory simplification mandated by the FAST Act with two new rules that address the timing and cost challenges faced by smaller publicly traded companies.