Corporate and M&A

By: Stephen E. Fox and Irwin A. Kishner
Herrick, Feinstein LLP (New York, New York, USA)

As this election year begins and the prolonged downturn in the economy continues, the political rhetoric is creeping up and more politicians are jumping on the bandwagon to speak out

against regulatory hurdles to raising capital. This issue of Public Company Perspectives surveys reform initiatives coming out of Congress and the SEC. There are currently several bills going through Congress seeking to assist companies with capital formation.  It remains to be seen if any of these bills will pass substantially as submitted as it is debatable whether any of them will actually facilitate capital formation while still adequately protecting investors.  However, more importantly, these bills provide an important service by initiating discussions and debates on some of the hurdles that many emerging and growth companies face in the current economic climate. We can only hope that such discussions and debates lead to responsible legislative activity and rule-making instead of a political response that does not address the underlying causes to the problems or that fails in striking the right balance between raising capital and adequately protecting investors. Click here to read entire article.