News & Events

Corporate Partner Ryan Brizek was quoted in an article in BoardIQ, a Financial Times publication, titled, “Court Ruling May Impact Boards of Massachusetts Trusts.” In light of recent enhancements many closed-end funds have made to their governing documents in an effort to seek to protect the interests of long-term shareholders against short-term activists, the article examined related litigation involving closed-end funds and activist investors. The article then reviewed recent comments by SEC disclosure review examiners related to derivative demand provisions in closed-end fund bylaws. Ryan said that the staff’s comments do not appear to specifically target closed-end funds, observing that open-end funds and operating companies have received comments regarding similar bylaw provisions in recent years. He also noted that a closed-end fund seeking to launch an IPO must address an examiner’s comments in order to have its “registration statement declared effective.”

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