Revisions to Offering Memorandum Rules Across Canada
Effective January 13, 2016, issuers in Ontario were able to take advantage of the offering memorandum prospectus exemption (the “OM Exemption”). This new OM Exemption will facilitate capital-raising by allowing issuers in Ontario to access a wider range of investors,...
Canadian Securities Regulators Revamp Early Warning Regime
Canadian Securities Law News, LexisNexis, No. 267
On February 25, 2016, concurrent with the publication of major changes to the take-over bid regime, the Canadian Securities Administrators (“CSA”) announced significant amendments to the early warning reporting rules. Market participants who take large positions in public issuers, along...
Notice of Housekeeping Rule Amendments to the TSX Company Manual
On February 11, 2016, the Toronto Stock Exchange (the “TSX”) issued a notice (the “Notice”) of Housekeeping Amendments (the “Amendments“) to Appendix D – Toronto Stock Exchange Evidence of Security Ownership (“Appendix D“) of the TSX Company Manual. Previously, Appendix...
OSC Releases Results of Insider Reporting Compliance Review
On February 18, 2016, the Ontario Securities Commission (the “OSC”) published OSC Staff Notice 51-726 Report on Staff’s Review of Insider Reporting and User Guides for Insiders and Issuers (the “Staff Notice”). The Staff Notice sets out the results of...
Prospectus Exemption for Certain Distributions through an Investment Dealer Adopted in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick
On January 14, 2016, the Canadian Securities Administrators issued Multilateral CSA Notice 45-318 Prospectus Exemptions for Certain Distributions through an Investment Dealer (the “Notice”). In the Notice, the securities regulatory authorities in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick...
January 2016 – Updates in Brief
In December 2015 and January 2016, the Canadian Securities Administrators (“CSA”), the Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”) and the TSX Venture Exchange (“TSXV”) implemented, or announced the upcoming implementation of, a number of initiatives that will affect the capital raising efforts...
The Supreme Court of Canada Releases The CIBC V Green Decision
On December 4, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada held that leave to commence a class action alleging a statutory claim for secondary market misrepresentation under the Securities Act (Ontario) (the “OSA”) must be granted prior to the expiry of the three-year limitation...
The TSX Venture Exchange Proposes Significant Initiatives to help Revitalize Canada’s Public Venture Market
On December 17, 2015, the TSX Venture Exchange (“TSXV”) announced through its White Paper that the TSXV is committed to: (i) meaningfully reducing issuers’ administrative and compliance costs, without compromising investor confidence; (ii) expanding the base of investors financing companies...
Ontario Securities Commission Proposes Whistleblower Program
On October 28, 2015, the Ontario Securities Commission (the “OSC”) announced the release of its proposed whistleblower program, OSC Policy 15-601 (the “Policy”). When implemented, the Policy will be the first of its kind in Canada and will follow in...
Conflicts of Interest in distributing securities of related or connected issuers
On November 19, 2015, the Canadian Securities Administrators (“CSA”) issued CSA Staff Notice 31-343 Conflicts of Interest in distributing securities of related or connected issuers (the “Notice”), wherein the CSA indicated that the identification of, and response to, conflicts of...
