On March 26, 2020, Corporations Canada issued a notice (Notice) entitled “Annual meetings of federal corporations during the COVID-19 outbreak”.  The Notice acknowledges that hosting in-person annual meetings during the COVID-19 outbreak would contradict public health advice to practice physical distancing and self-isolation to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and outlines options for federal corporations to consider in order to remain compliant with the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA).…

The Co-Directors of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Division of Enforcement recently issued a Public Statement emphasizing the importance of maintaining market integrity and following corporate controls and procedures in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to them, in the current circumstances, corporate insiders are regularly learning new material non-public information that may hold an even greater value than under normal circumstances, and a greater number of people may have access to…

On March 23, 2020, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) issued a news release to announce that the CSA has published local blanket orders (Blanket Orders) for market participants that provide a 45-day extension for periodic filings normally required to be made by market participants on or before June 1, 2020. Market participants need to comply with the conditions set out in the Blanket Orders to use the 45-day extension. The local blanket orders are substantially…

On March 23, 2020, the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) issued Staff Notice 2020-0002 granting temporary blanket relief from certain provisions of the TSX Company Manual (Manual) and the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) issued a “Notice to Issuers” with similar temporary blanket relief, both in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The TSX and TSXV temporary relief is described below. Toronto Stock Exchange Normal Course Issuer Bid Daily Limits For TSX issuers with a normal course…

It is likely that a trend will emerge in the coming months of cancelled transactions leading to litigation as to whether the impact of the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) amounts to a “disaster” or a force majeure under various agreements. Standard underwriting agreements contain termination provisions, some of which may be triggered by COVID-19. As a result, we expect the bought deal market to be impacted by this trend. Issuers may have recently received notice from…

Fasken recently published two articles (on March 12 and March 13, 2020) relating to alternatives to in-person annual shareholders’ meetings in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. In light of the rapidly evolving circumstances and the ongoing proxy season, we have detailed recent developments and trends in the area in order to provide a road-map to corporations navigating this process. Recent Trends In the week since our last bulletin, the following developments and trends…