General Rules
& Regulations
promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933
Rule 501 -- Definitions and Terms Used in Regulation
D ________________________________________
As used in Regulation D, the following terms shall have the meaning
indicated:
a. Accredited investor. Accredited investor shall
mean any person who comes within any of the following categories,
or who the issuer reasonably believes comes within any of the
following categories, at the time of the sale of the securities
to that person:
1. Any bank as defined in section 3(a)(2) of the
Act, or any savings and loan association or other institution
as defined in section 3(a)(5)(A) of the Act whether acting in
its individual or fiduciary capacity; any broker or dealer registered
pursuant to section 15 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934;
any insurance company as defined in section 2(a)(13) of the
Act; any investment company registered under the Investment
Company Act of 1940 or a business development company as defined
in section 2(a)(48) of that Act; any Small Business Investment
Company licensed by the U.S. Small Business Administration under
section 301(c) or (d) of the Small Business Investment Act of
1958; any plan established and maintained by a state, its political
subdivisions, or any agency or instrumentality of a state or
its political subdivisions, for the benefit of its employees,
if such plan has total assets in excess of $5,000,000; any employee
benefit plan within the meaning of the Employee Retirement Income
Security Act of 1974 if the investment decision is made by a
plan fiduciary, as defined in section 3(21) of such act, which
is either a bank, savings and loan association, insurance company,
or registered investment adviser, or if the employee benefit
plan has total assets in excess of $5,000,000 or, if a self-directed
plan, with investment decisions made solely by persons that
are accredited investors;
2. Any private business development company as
defined in section 202(a)(22) of the Investment Advisers Act
of 1940;
3. Any organization described in section 501(c)(3)
of the Internal Revenue Code, corporation, Massachusetts or
similar business trust, or partnership, not formed for the specific
purpose of acquiring the securities offered, with total assets
in excess of $5,000,000;
4. Any director, executive officer, or general
partner of the issuer of the securities being offered or sold,
or any director, executive officer, or general partner of a
general partner of that issuer;
5. Any natural person whose individual net worth,
or joint net worth with that person's spouse, at the time of
his purchase exceeds $1,000,000;
6. Any natural person who had an individual income
in excess of $200,000 in each of the two most recent years or
joint income with that person's spouse in excess of $300,000
in each of those years and has a reasonable expectation of reaching
the same income level in the current year;
7. Any trust, with total assets in excess of $5,000,000,
not formed for the specific purpose of acquiring the securities
offered, whose purchase is directed by a sophisticated person
as described in Rule 506(b)(2)(ii) and
8. Any entity in which all of the equity owners
are accredited investors.
b. Affiliate. An affiliate of, or person affiliated
with, a specified person shall mean a person that directly, or
indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls or is
controlled by, or is under common control with, the person specified.
c. Aggregate offering price. Aggregate offering
price shall mean the sum of all cash, services, property, notes,
cancellation of debt, or other consideration to be received by
an issuer for issuance of its securities. Where securities are
being offered for both cash and non-cash consideration, the aggregate
offering price shall be based on the price at which the securities
are offered for cash. Any portion of the aggregate offering price
attributable to cash received in a foreign currency shall be translated
into United States currency at the currency exchange rate in effect
at a reasonable time prior to or on the date of the sale of the
securities. If securities are not offered for cash, the aggregate
offering price shall be based on the value of the consideration
as established by bona fide sales of that consideration made within
a reasonable time, or, in the absence of sales, on the fair value
as determined by an accepted standard. Such valuations of non-cash
consideration must be reasonable at the time made.
d. Business combination. Business combination shall
mean any transaction of the type specified in paragraph (a) of
Rule 145 under the Act and any transaction involving the acquisition
by one issuer, in exchange for all or a part of its own or its
parent's stock, of stock of another issuer if, immediately after
the acquisition, the acquiring issuer has control of the other
issuer (whether or not it had control before the acquisition).
e. Calculation of number of purchasers. For purposes
of calculating the number of purchasers under Rule 505(b) and
Rule 506(b) only, the following shall apply:
1. The following purchasers shall be excluded:
i. Any relative, spouse or relative of the spouse
of a purchaser who has the same principal residence as the
purchaser;
ii. Any trust or estate in which a purchaser
and any of the persons related to him as specified in paragraph
(e)(1)(i) or (e)(1)(iii) of this section collectively have
more than 50 percent of the beneficial interest (excluding
contingent interests);
iii. Any corporation or other organization of
which a purchaser and any of the persons related to him as
specified in paragraph (e)(1)(i) or (e)(1)(ii) of this section
collectively are beneficial owners of more than 50 percent
of the equity securities (excluding directors' qualifying
shares) or equity interests; and
iv. Any accredited investor.
2. A corporation, partnership or other entity
shall be counted as one purchaser. If, however, that entity
is organized for the specific purpose of acquiring the securities
offered and is not an accredited investor under paragraph (a)8
of this section, then each beneficial owner of equity securities
or equity interests in the entity shall count as a separate
purchaser for all provisions of Regulation D, except to the
extent provided in paragraph (e)1 of this section.
3. A non-contributory employee benefit plan within
the meaning of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security
Act of 1974 shall be counted as one purchaser where the trustee
makes all investment decisions for the plan.
f. Executive officer. Executive officer shall mean
the president, any vice president in charge of a principal business
unit, division or function (such as sales, administration or finance),
any other officer who performs a policy making function, or any
other person who performs similar policy making functions for
the issuer. Executive officers of subsidiaries may be deemed executive
officers of the issuer if they perform such policy making functions
for the issuer.
g. Issuer. The definition of the term issuer in
section 2(a)(4) of the Act shall apply, except that in the case
of a proceeding under the Federal Bankruptcy Code (11 U.S.C. 101
et seq.), the trustee or debtor in possession shall be considered
the issuer in an offering under a plan or reorganization, if the
securities are to be issued under the plan.
h. Purchaser representative. Purchaser representative
shall mean any person who satisfies all of the following conditions
or who the issuer reasonably believes satisfies all of the following
conditions:
1. Is not an affiliate, director, officer or other
employee of the issuer, or beneficial owner of 10 percent or
more of any class of the equity securities or 10 percent or
more of the equity interest in the issuer, except where the
purchaser is:
i. A relative of the purchaser representative
by blood, marriage or adoption and not more remote than a
first cousin;
ii. A trust or estate in which the purchaser
representative and any persons related to him as specified
in paragraph (h)(1)(i) or (h)1(iii) of this section collectively
have more than 50 percent of the beneficial interest (excluding
contingent interest) or of which the purchaser representative
serves as trustee, executor, or in any similar capacity; or
iii. A corporation or other organization of
which the purchaser representative and any persons related
to him as specified in paragraph (h)(1)(i) or (h)(1)(ii) of
this section collectively are the beneficial owners of more
than 50 percent of the equity securities (excluding directors'
qualifying shares) or equity interests;
2. Has such knowledge and experience in financial
and business matters that he is capable of evaluating, alone,
or together with other purchaser representatives of the purchaser,
or together with the purchaser, the merits and risks of the
prospective investment;
3. Is acknowledged by the purchaser in writing,
during the course of the transaction, to be his purchaser representative
in connection with evaluating the merits and risks of the prospective
investment; and
4. Discloses to the purchaser in writing a reasonable
time prior to the sale of securities to that purchaser any material
relationship between himself or his affiliates and the issuer
or its affiliates that then exists, that is mutually understood
to be contemplated, or that has existed at any time during the
previous two years, and any compensation received or to be received
as a result of such relationship.
________________________________________
Note 1: A person acting as a purchaser representative should consider
the applicability of the registration and antifraud provisions
relating to brokers and dealers under the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) and relating to investment advisers
under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
Note 2: The acknowledgment required by paragraph
(h)(3) and the disclosure required by paragraph (h)(4) of this
section must be made with specific reference to each prospective
investment. Advance blanket acknowledgment, such as for all securities
transactions or all private placements, is not sufficient.
Note 3: Disclosure of any material relationships
between the purchaser representative or his affiliates and the
issuer or its affiliates does not relieve the purchaser representative
of his obligation to act in the interest of the purchaser.
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