SEC No-Action for Electronic Road Shows for Retail Investors in Muni Offerings

The SEC Division of Trading and Markets has provided no-action relief to NetRoadshow, under the provisions in Exchange Act Rule 15c2-12 (“Municipal Securities Disclosure”), which allowed electronic road shows to be provided to retail investors in connection with municipal securities offerings without the underwriters of the offering being required to treat such road shows as a part of the preliminary or the final official statement. 

Lofchie Comment:  The incoming letter provides interesting historical background as to the development of electronic road shows, as well as the treatment of such road shows under the rules relevant to municipal securities.  Notwithstanding the applicable legal differences in the rules governing distributions of municipal vs. corporate securities, from a policy standpoint, it is not clear why electronic road shows should be available to retail investors in muni offerings but not to retail investors in corporate offerings.

Click here to view letter in full (links externally to SEC website).