If adopted, the proposed exemption would allow Canadian investors to resell, outside of Canada, securities of a foreign issuer acquired under a prospectus exemption where the issuer is not a reporting issuer in any jurisdiction of Canada. The proposed amendments suggest a different approach for determining minimal connection to Canada by introducing a definition of foreign issuer to replace the current 10 per cent Canadian ownership test.
Comments on the proposed amendments should be submitted in writing by September 27, 2017. Review the press release and related documents on the AMF’s website.
Concurrently on June 29, 2017, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) published for a 90-day comment period revised OSC Rule 72-503 Distributions Outside Canada and proposed Companion Policy 72-503 Distributions Outside Canada. Under these proposals, resale provisions of securities of a foreign issuer would instead be covered by the CSA’s foreign issuer resale exemption above.