JOBS Act to Jumpstart IPOs

By most accounts, the JOBS Act will likely become law and the rules for new issues should help to streamline and ease the IPO process.
 
Yesterday, the Senate passed he Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act) (73-26 votes) with broad bipartisan support.  Its version of the JOBS Act will require approval from the House of Representatives (remember that a few weeks ago the House voted 390-23 in favor of a similar version of the law), after which it will go directly to President Obama’s desk for signature.  The White House has previously endorsed the legislation.
 
According to a recent report from the legal minds at Latham & Watkins, the JOBS Act, which is a combination of several different bills, contains certain IPO-related provisions related to corporate governance and financial reporting standards that should:

 
• make it easier to go public;
• provide significant cost savings for the IPO process;<
• allow issuers to gauge investor interest before filing a registration statement;
• permit confidential initiation of the SEC registration process;
• streamline the requirements for financial statements;
• permit analyst research immediately after the IPO; and
• provide transitional relief for some companies up to five years from more costly requirements such as hiring an independent auditor.

 
Those supporting the bill believe it will encourage small businesses to grow and hire more workers. Further streamlining the IPO process enables companies to gain access to needed growth capital to fuel their expansion needs.  Reducing red tape should give an added boost to entrepreneurs seeking to launch new business start-ups, but it also could spur others to illicitly benefit from less stringent rules at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
 
While this should be viewed as a positive step forward, it also reminds investors of all stripes to carefully seek out and read all company filings before laying down the green.

— PondelWilkinson, investor@pondel.com