On January 9, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published Consultation Paper 51-405 Consideration of an Access Equals Delivery Model for Non-Investment Fund Reporting Issuers (CP 51-405). They noted that electronic access is a more cost-efficient, timely and environmentally friendly way of communicating to investors than physical delivery. Under an “access equals delivery” model, issuers would effect delivery by issuing a news release to alert investors that the document is available on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) and the issuer’s website. Initially, the focus would be on delivery of prospectuses, financial statements and MD&A but the CSA is also seeking feedback on whether the model should be extended to documents that require immediate investor attention, such as rights offering documents, proxy materials and takeover bid circulars.
CP 51-405 is more of a concept release than a rule proposal, with the CSA seeking feedback on questions such as whether such an initiative should be prioritized as a burden reduction measure, which documents should be covered, how withdrawal rights would be calculated, and whether issuers should be required to have websites where investor materials could be access under this model. The comment period expires on March 9. AUM Law will monitor this initiative and report back on further developments.
January 31, 2020