Author Archives: Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation

Weekly Roundup: October 30–November 5, 2020

SEC Brings Enforcement Action Against Fund Manager for Single 13D Violation Posted by Eleazer Klein, Adriana Schwartz, and Clara Zylberg, Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, on Friday, October 30, 2020 Tags: Asset management, Disclosure, Fund managers, Institutional Investors, Ownership, Private funds, Schedule 13D, Securities enforcement, Securities regulation Proposed HSR Rule Change Would Benefit Activists Posted by Steve Wolosky, Andrew Freedman, and Kenneth M. Silverman, Olshan […]

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Determining Fair Value in Appraisal Proceedings

On July 9 and October 12, 2020, the Delaware Supreme Court added two more opinions to its growing suite of recent appraisal decisions underscoring the prominence of market-based factors in determining fair value. In Fir Tree Value Master Fund, LP v. Jarden Corp., the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed Vice Chancellor Slights’ finding that Jarden’s unaffected […]

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Where Do Institutional Investors Seek Shelter when Disaster Strikes? Evidence from COVID-19

Institutional investors increasingly play a central role in US stock markets, with institutional ownership rising from below 40% in 1980 to over 75% nowadays. In Glossner, Matos, Ramelli, and Wagner (2020), we examine the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic—a truly exogenous shock—as a powerful setting to learn more about their behavior. Did institutional […]

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Safe Harbor for Permissible Capital-Raising Activities by Unregistered Finders

Recognizing the longstanding need for a new approach to the regulation of finders who help smaller businesses raise early stage capital, the SEC has published a notice of a proposed exemptive order and request for comment to formalize the regulatory status of unregistered finders. The proposed finders exemption from broker-dealer registration would facilitate a role […]

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Unions Are Democratically Organized, Corporations Are Not

In establishing the rules that govern engagement with the democratic process— including laws related to elections, campaign finance, and lobbying—unions and corporations are often lumped together under the incorrect assumption that these two types of organizations are roughly equivalent and thus should be subject to similar rules. For example, prior to the Supreme Court’s Citizens […]

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Posted in Comparative Corporate Governance & Regulation, Corporate Elections & Voting, ESG, Practitioner Publications | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Unions Are Democratically Organized, Corporations Are Not

Catastrophe Bonds, Pandemics, and Risk Securitization

Insurance is the tried-and-true strategy for protecting against infrequent but potentially devastating losses. In theory, governments could protect against the potential economic devastation of future pandemics by requiring businesses to insure against pandemic-related risks. In practice, however, insurers do not currently offer pandemic insurance. Insurers fear their industry does not have the capacity to provide […]

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Next-Generation Cybersecurity Disclosures for Publicly Traded Companies

In 2018 the SEC issued its second round of guidance (the “2018 SEC Cyber guidance”) to registrants on what they expected cybersecurity disclosures to address in forthcoming periodic filings. The 2018 SEC Cyber Guidance followed guidance issued in 2011 and came shortly after the 2017 Equifax breach in acknowledgment that “Cybersecurity risks pose grave threats […]

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Statement by Chairman Clayton on Harmonizing, Simplifying and Improving the Exempt Offering Framework

Good morning. This is an open meeting of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the Government in the Sunshine Act. Today we consider a recommendation from the Division of Corporation Finance that would harmonize, simplify and improve various structural and procedural aspects of our exempt offering framework under the Securities Act of 1933. The […]

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Statement by Commissioner Lee on Amendments to the Exempt Offering Framework

For decades, private offerings were the exception to the rule in our securities regime. The registration and reporting provisions in the federal securities laws are designed to level the playing field by requiring issuers to provide all investors with reliable, timely, and material information about investments. The public markets are designed to, and to a […]

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Shareholder Value(s): Index Fund ESG Activism and the New Millennial Corporate Governance

Our new paper Shareholder Value(S): Index Fund ESG Activism and The New Millennial Corporate Governance forthcoming in the Southern California Law Review documents and explains the increasing role of large index fund managers in promoting ESG issues at major companies. While often viewed as quiet on key corporate governance issues, we show that these asset […]

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