In an article for Ignites, a Financial Times publication, Investment Management Partner Shelley Rosensweig discusses the Securities and Exchange Commission’s regulatory shift under Chair Paul Atkins and its implications for capital formation, private markets and the future of IPOs.
Rosensweig frames Atkins’ agenda as a significant shift toward deregulation, one that could ease IPO pathways, reduce compliance costs and improve exit opportunities for private‑equity and private‑fund managers, positioning the SEC as more supportive of capital formation rather than primarily focused on restrictive oversight.
Read an excerpt below.
"Gensler was probably widely seen as being adversarial to markets, while Atkins is leaning into looking like a pro-growth pragmatist," said Shelley Rosensweig, partner at law firm Haynes Boone.
Private-fund managers could also benefit from some changes that Atkins said the SEC could propose, according to Rosensweig.
Atkins' plans for a regulatory "on-ramp" for IPOs, which would involve easing compliance disclosures for larger firms — as the agency has already done for emerging growth companies — could be a boon to private-equity managers, she said.
"This approach could provide better exit-ramp opportunities for private-equity managers. ... It gives them a more reliable route," she said.
Plans to reduce quarterly reporting requirements by making semiannual reporting an option for public companies could also help lessen compliance and reporting costs for portfolio companies as well, Rosensweig noted.
Read the full Ignites article here.
