Effective July 10, 2017, the Securities & Exchange Commission ("SEC") began allowing all companies to submit non-public, draft registration statements for initial public offerings ("IPOs"). Why make this significant change? In altering the disclosure requirements, the SEC hopes to reduce organizations’ exposure to market fluctuations while going through the IPO process, rationalize the filing process so that compliance is less burdensome and expensive for small organizations, and further streamline disclosures to make them more meaningful and useful to investors.

The SEC’s new rule is largely an effort to reverse the decline in IPOs, encourage more public offerings, among both U.S. and foreign companies, on U.S. exchanges, and provide investors with access to a wider range of small, successful companies in which to invest. While this ruling may encourage more companies to consider (or reconsider) listing within the U.S. market, for foreign issuers, numerous complexities remain that should be considered.