Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Governmental Reform

Letter from the SEC to Rep. Darrell Issa on Capital Formation and Section 12(g) of the Securities Exchange Act

On April 6, SEC Chairman Schapiro issued a public letter to Rep. Darrell Issa, Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Governmental Reform, in response to his letter on March 22 concerning the SEC and capital formation. Among the items discussed in the letter, Chairman Schapiro addressed Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act and the limit of 500 holders of record before a company must register its securities with the SEC. In light of the burdensome nature of registering the securities of smaller companies as well as the ability of much larger companies to aggregate multiple shareholders under a single holder of record, thereby avoiding registration, Chairman Schapiro stated, “I believe that both the question of how holders are counted and how many holders should trigger registration need to be examined.” SEC Letter.