From the great sources at IA Watch: The numbers may not be final, but they’re close. Some 1,400 private fund advisers registered with the SEC by the first week of April, sources tell IA Watch. Owing for some stragglers, these appear to be what Dodd-Frank wrought by way of new advisers. They join some 2,600 … Read more »
Compliance Bits and Pieces for April 13
These are some recent compliance-related stories that caught my attention. The Skyscraper Index from Barclays Capital (via Barry Ritholz’s The Big Picture) Our Skyscraper Index continues to show an unhealthy correlation between construction of the next world’s tallest building and an impending financial crisis:New York 1930; Chicago 1974; Kuala Lumpar 1997 and Dubai 2010. Yet … Read more »
Why The Law Is So Perverse
In Why the Law Is So Perverse, Leo Katz, Frank Carano Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, examines features of the legal system which seem to not make sense on some level. I admit that I offered to read and review the book based on the title. I’m not sure that … Read more »
SEC Seeks Public Comment Prior to Jobs Act Rulemaking
In an unusual move, the SEC has opened up for comments on the proposed rules under the recently-signed Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, before it has proposed the rules. The SEC is generally required by law to establish a public comment period at the time it proposes rules or rule amendments. However, similar to the … Read more »
Will Private Funds Be Excluded?
Title II of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act directs the SEC to lift the ban on general solicitation and advertising under Rule 506 of Regulation D. That rule creates a safe harbor that deems the covered transactions to not involve any public offering within the meaning of section 4(2) of the Securities Act. However, … Read more »
Smells Like Insider Trading
Apparently Blue Horseshoe loved Zhongpin Inc., a China-based pork processor whose shares trade in the U.S. The SEC jumped on the accounts of six Chinese citizens and a British Virgin Islands entity. (Apparently the Chinese prefer to use British Virgin Islands entities. It’s the second largest investor in China after Hong Kong.) The facts stink … Read more »
Which Real Estate Fund Managers Registered with the SEC?
Last year, I looked a the top 30 real estate private equity fund managers to see which were registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Given that we just passed the March 30, 2012 registration deadline, I thought I would update the list. (Disclosure: my company is on the list.) 1 The Blackstone Group Already … Read more »
The Death of Martindale Connected
When Lexis backed a social networking platform for lawyers, I paid attention. I didn’t think a platform for lawyers would be interesting, but if it connected to some of Lexis’s massive collection of legal content it could at least be informative. That never came to the Martindale Connected platform. The platform has remained boring and … Read more »
Compliance Bits and Pieces for April 6
Earl Scruggs: Banjo, Bluegrass and the Fight against Corruption and Bribery by Tom Fox So what is the lesson of Earl Scruggs for the compliance practitioner? It is this, even if you develop a completely new style that makes you one of the foremost experts in an area, you can still evolve. Further, the style … Read more »
Advisory Contracts – Transition for Newly Registered Advisers
The SEC’s Division of Investment Management supplemented its Investment Management Staff Issues of Interest posting on the SEC website to include no-action relief for a newly registering adviser under Section 205(a)(2) and (3). Those include requirements that (1) an investment advisory contract not be assigned without consent and (2) that if the advisor is a … Read more »