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Kerry Burke

Kerry Shannon Burke has been helping public and private companies structure and execute capital markets and finance transactions and navigate the pitfalls of public company reporting and governance for over 25 years. Kerry regularly represents issuers, ranging from development stage ventures to large public companies, as well as underwriters and other institutional investors, with private and public debt and equity financings. She also has assisted public and private companies in structuring and negotiating financing transactions, including term loan and revolving credit facilities and acquisition financing.

Kerry is a “go-to” advisor for large public companies and their boards on corporate governance, SEC reporting, ESG, cybersecurity disclosure, succession planning and compliance program design. Kerry also assists private companies on governance and IPO readiness matters, including with respect to board and committee independence, internal and disclosure controls and similar matters.

Kerry has particular expertise counseling clients on the Investment Advisers Act and assists investment advisers, including private equity funds, hedge funds and venture capital funds, on various status questions and ongoing compliance matters.

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On May 16, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) adopted amendments to Regulation S-P, which implements the Gramm-Leach Bliley Act (“GLBA”) for SEC-regulated entities such as broker-dealers, investment companies, registered investment advisers, and transfer agents.

Among other requirements, the amendments require SEC-regulated entities to adopt written policies and procedures…

Continue Reading SEC Adopts Amendments to Regulation S-P

On February 22, 2023, the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) and the Nasdaq Stock Market (“Nasdaq”) filed rule proposals[1] to adopt new listing standards implementing Rule 10D-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. That rule, which the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) adopted in October 2022, requires national securities exchanges to implement standards to require listed companies to adopt and publicly file so-called “clawback” policies to recover erroneously awarded incentive-based compensation following accounting restatements. Rule 10D-1, which was first proposed in 2015 and re-opened for comment twice, implements Section 954 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

The proposed listing standards are subject to a 21-day comment period once published in the Federal Register before the SEC can approve them, and must, in any event, become effective by November 28, 2023. Listed companies will be required to adopt clawback policies that comply with the new standards within 60 days of the effective date of the applicable listing standards (the “Adoption Deadline”).

The listing standards proposed by both NYSE and Nasdaq are materially consistent with Rule 10D-1 and its adopting release. Among other things, both proposed listing standards provide for the commencement of delisting proceedings for listed companies that fail to either adopt a compliant clawback policy or comply with such policy after a clawback obligation arises. These delisting provisions are discussed below, and, for an in-depth discussion of Rule 10D-1’s requirements, please refer to our previous alert.

NYSE – Delisting for Noncompliance

Failure to Adopt a Policy: As proposed, a company listed on NYSE that fails to adopt a compliant clawback policy by the Adoption Deadline will have five days to notify NYSE, after which the exchange will send a written delinquency notification to the company. Upon receipt of this notification, the company would have five days to contact NYSE to discuss the delinquency and to issue a press release disclosing the company’s delinquency, the reason for the delinquency and, if known, the anticipated date on which a clawback policy will be adopted. If the company fails to issue such a press release in time, NYSE will issue a press release stating that the company has received a delinquency notice.Continue Reading NYSE and Nasdaq Propose Clawback Listing Standards

On October 26, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) adopted a long-awaited rule[1] that will require listed companies to adopt and publicly file so-called “clawback” policies to recover erroneously awarded incentive-based compensation following accounting restatements. Companies with securities listed on national securities exchanges, including NYSE and Nasdaq, will be required to implement such policies within 60 days of the effective date of new listing standards, which the exchanges must adopt within 12 months of the new rule’s publication in the Federal Register. Companies who fail to comply will be subject to delisting.

The most significant deviation from the SEC’s initial proposal of the clawback rule in 2015 is that Rule 10D-1 will require companies to conduct a clawback analysis not only for “Big R” accounting restatements, which must be disclosed under Item 4.02(a) of Form 8-K, but also for “little r” accounting restatements, which involve the correction of errors in prior period financial statements when those financial statements are included in a current period filing.

Clawback Policy Requirements

Under the new rule, a listed company’s clawback policy must require the company to recover, reasonably promptly, erroneously awarded incentive-based compensation from persons who served as an executive officer at any time during the performance period for such incentive-based compensation and who received such compensation during the three fiscal years preceding the date on which the company is required to prepare an accounting restatement. The compensation to be recovered is the amount in excess of what would have been paid based on the restated results.Continue Reading SEC Requires Clawback Policy