A Guide to Their Availability in Each of the Provinces and Territories
The various securities regulators in each of Canada’s 10 provinces and 3 territories have been pumping out new or revised capital raising prospectus exemptions over the last couple of years. For the most part, these securities regulators work cooperatively to harmonize their rules so that complying with each jurisdiction’s securities legislation, while still complex, is not insanely complex. That being said, they don’t always agree. Sometimes select jurisdictions make certain prospectus exemptions available while others do not. And sometimes the various jurisdictions adopt similar but not identical prospectus exemptions.
The attached PDF document contains a high level summary of the Canadian jurisdictions where the most common capital raising prospectus exemptions are available and the extent to which they are harmonized with similar exemptions in the other jurisdictions.
Note that the attachment only attempts to summarize the availability and the degree of harmonization of each exemption. It does not attempt to summarize the conditions for using each of the exemptions. The conditions for using each prospectus exemption are quite complex in and of themselves and proper legal advice should be obtained before using any of the prospectus exemptions in any jurisdiction.
That being said, while the capital raising prospectus exemption rules in Canada are a very complex puzzle, they are a manageable puzzle and with some experienced legal advice you can properly use those prospectus exemptions to raise the capital you need to move your business forward.
Invitation for Discussion:
If you would like to discuss the topics raised herein or any other business law matter, please do not hesitate to contact one of the lawyers in the Business Law group at Nerland Lindsey LLP.
Disclaimer:
Note that the foregoing, and the attached document, are for general discussion purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice to any one person or company. If the issues discussed herein affect you or your company, you are encouraged to seek proper legal advice.