The SEC just gave its IPO revival campaign a name that practically begs for a red hat: “Make IPOs Great Again.” Chairman Paul S. Atkins is leading the charge to reverse a long, slow exodus of companies from US public markets.
Two rule proposals released on May 19 aim to make the process of going public less painful, particularly for smaller and emerging companies.
What the SEC is actually proposing
The first proposal focuses on reforming registered offerings, specifically by expanding access to shelf registrations like Form S-3. Shelf registrations let companies pre-register securities and sell them later when market conditions look favorable, instead of going through the full regulatory gauntlet every single time they want to raise capital.
The second proposal tackles filer status simplification. The SEC wants to raise the large accelerated filer threshold from $700 million to $2 billion.
