R164-14-23v – Foreign Securities - Secondary Trading Rule

(1) The Division finds that continued registration is not necessary or appropriate for the protection of investors in an outstanding security issued by any corporation organized under the laws of a foreign country with which the United States currently maintains diplomatic relations (or an American Depository Receipt relating to such a security), provided either:

• (a) the security appears in the most recent Federal Reserve Board List of Foreign Margin Stocks;
• (b) the issuer is currently required to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission information and reports pursuant to Sections 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and is not delinquent in such filing; or
• (c) the issuer is not subject to the reporting requirements of Sections 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and all of the following conditions are met:
  • (i) the issuer, including any predecessors, has been in continuous operation for at least 5 years and is a going concern actually engaged in business and neither in the organization stage nor in bankruptcy or receivership;
  • (ii) the number of shares outstanding is at least 2,500,000 and the number of shareholders is at least 5,000;
  • (iii) the market value of the outstanding shares, other than debt securities and preferred stock, is at least U.S. $100 million;
  • (iv) the issuer, as of the date of its most recent financial statement, which may not be more than 18 months old and which has been audited in accordance with the generally accepted accounting principles of its country of domicile, has net tangible assets of at least U.S. $100 million;
  • (v) the issuer had net income after all charges, including taxes and extraordinary losses, and excluding extraordinary gains, of either:
    • (aa) at least U.S. $50 million in total for its last three fiscal years, or
    • (bb) at least U.S. $20 million in each of its last two fiscal years; and
  • (vi) if the security is a debt security or preferred stock, the issuer has not during the past 5 years, or during the period of its existence if shorter, defaulted in the payment of any dividend, principal, interest or sinking fund installment thereon.

(2) Accordingly, any non-issuer transaction, effected by or through a licensed broker-dealer, involving such a security shall be exempt from registration.