Media Coverage
Source: Daily Journal
Media Coverage
12.20.12
Jorge del Calvo, a partner and member of Pillsbury’s corporate and securities technology practice in Silicon Valley, discusses the JOBS Act, which was expected to help revive initial public offering activity in 2012. While filings haven’t skyrocketed, data shows the legislation likely accomplished that mission and many lawyers say the changes are enabling higher-quality offerings.
In 2012, the U.S. had 128 IPOs that raised a total of $43 billion, which was a 17 percent increase from the 125 IPOs raising a combined $36 billion in 2011.
Agreeing the JOBS Act has been a positive influence on the IPO market, del Calvo said, “It’s the first significant rollback in regulation during my 31-year career.” He added that the JOBS Act is an acknowledgement by Congress that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which tightened financial accounting regulations, was too extreme.
Del Calvo said the ability to “file confidentially” has proven beneficial to companies.
“In terms of filing, it’s always been an impediment because, since it’s public, competitors can look through information and employee work can get disrupted,” del Calvo said. He added those negative effects are “second-order impacts” that have been curbed by the new opportunity to file confidentially.