CSA Members Adopt New "Existing Security Holders" Prospectus Exemption

The CSA announced yesterday that the securities regulatory authorities in all Canadian jurisdictions, other than Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador, have adopted a prospectus exemption that, subject to certain conditions, allows issuers listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V), and the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) to raise money by issuing securities to their existing security holders.

This new exemption has a significantly broader scope than initially suggested last November in Multilateral CSA Notice 45-312 Proposed Prospectus Exemption for Distributions to Existing Security Holders, which proposed an exemption for TSX-V-listed issuers only. In keeping with several comments received during the consultation period, the final exemption was modified to be available to issuers with equity securities listed on the TSX and the CSE, in addition to those listed on the TSX-V.