The SEC recently released an order (available here) approving new Nasdaq listing standard 5250(b)(3), which will require a public issuer to disclose cash and non-cash remuneration (e.g., health insurance, indemnification) that a third party has agreed to pay a director on (or director nominee for) the issuer’s board of directors. These are often referred to as “golden leash” arrangements. The new disclosure requirement includes an exception for pre-existing compensation arrangements. Thus, if a fund manager, consultant, or other “friend of the fund” serves on the board of a public portfolio company, the company need only disclose any incremental additional compensation promised by the fund that is directly related to that board service. With some exceptions, the disclosure must be made on the company’s website or in its next proxy statement prepared for a shareholders meeting at which directors are elected. The disclosure must be repeated annually until the director’s departure from the board, or until one year after the termination of the arrangements. Public issuers will need to establish processes for collecting relevant information from its directors. The new listing standard will be effective 30 days after its publication in the Federal Register – thus it should be effective in August of 2016.

Please feel free to contact the author of this post or your regular Proskauer contact if you have any questions on this topic.

Photo of Frank Zarb Frank Zarb

Frank Zarb is a partner in our Corporate Department and a member of the Capital Markets Group, where he concentrates his practice on equity finance and a wide range of regulatory matters under U.S. federal securities laws.

He counsels public and private companies…

Frank Zarb is a partner in our Corporate Department and a member of the Capital Markets Group, where he concentrates his practice on equity finance and a wide range of regulatory matters under U.S. federal securities laws.

He counsels public and private companies, hedge funds and family offices, and market intermediaries and other financial institutions on a wide range of transactional and securities regulatory compliance matters including:

  • Equity investments and dispositions in public and private companies
  • Public company registration, disclosures and preparation of periodic reports
  • Tender offers, equity lines, proxy contests, SPACs, and other highly regulated transactions
  • Regulation M, Regulation SHO, Forms 13F and 13H, insider trading and other trading issues
  • Corporate governance and stock exchange listing standards
  • Federal and state proxy requirements as well as shareholder proposals and communications
  • Regulation of financial intermediaries, including trading of public and private equity, and complex and novel trading structures
  • Advocating with the SEC on behalf of a market intermediary related to back-office processing matters.

Frank’s practice is both domestic and international, beginning with his experience in senior positions with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As a member of the staff of the SEC’s Office of International Corporate Finance, Frank advised U.S. companies seeking to do business in the EU, Asia and the Middle East, as well as companies from those regions doing business in the U.S., or otherwise seeking to comply with the U.S. securities laws.  In the Office of Chief Counsel, he focused on federal proxy rules, and supervised a team of staff members that provided guidance in the course of proxy season.

Prior to joining the Firm, Frank was deputy general counsel/chief securities counsel for Bristol Myers Squibb Co. in a new position required by the SEC. Prior to joining Bristol-Myers, Frank was a corporate partner with Morgan, Lewis & Brockius.

Social Responsibility

Frank is a Trustee of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, and he provides significant pro bono assistance to non-profit social service institutions in the Washington, D.C. area.