The Securities and Exchange Commission has voted to propose several new rules to provide additional protection to investors in hedge funds and other pooled investment vehicles.
The proposing release, which has not yet been published on the SEC's website, will need to explain why there is more risk associated with hedge funds than, for example, raising money to start a coffee kiosk or a pet rock distribution organization. Investors and hedge fund managers may decide that the explanation is insufficient and decide to challenge the SEC's authority to make this distinction.
In an email to the company's clients, HedgeCo lawyer Jay Gould describes one of the proposals being discussed as the reinstatement of the Anti Fraud Provision under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. This proposal would make it a fraudulent, deceptive, or manipulative act, for an investment adviser to a pooled investment vehicle to make false or misleading statements or to otherwise defraud investors or prospective investors in that pool.
The other one being the application to hedge funds of the Amendment to Private Offering rules under the Securities Act of 1933. This proposal would define a new category of accredited investor that would apply to offers and sales of securities issued by hedge funds and other private investment pools. The proposed definition would include any person who meets either the net worth test or income test, or owns at least $2.5 million in investments.
The increased investor standard will only apply to hedge funds and not to private companies that rely on other exemptions of the federal securities laws. Comments are due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
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