The Wall Street Legal & Regulatory Feed
Securities Industry Commentator by Bill Singer Esq
April 13, 2020
Quarantine Bakers Are Making Flour a Hot Commodity / An ongoing global pandemic has turned many into avid home bakers, forcing suppliers to ramp up production (Bloomberg by Lydia Mulvany and Michael Hirtzer)Restaurants Fear Going From "Closed" to "Space for Lease" By July / Chefs and restaurateurs are relying increasingly on the kindness of landlords as gaps in the government stimulus plan become more obvious (Bloomberg by Kate Krader and James Tarmy)
Division of Corporation Finance Statement Regarding Requirements for Form 144 Paper Filings in Light of COVID-19 Concerns (SEC Release)
https://www.sec.gov/corpfin/announcement/form-144-paper-filings-email-option
Aware of the logistical difficulties inherent in the ongoing submission of paper copies of Forms 144, the SEC Division of Corporation Finance published a temporary, Staff statement covering said submissions from April 10, 2020 to June 30, 2020. In part, that Staff Statement provides that:
Division of Corporation Finance staff will not recommend enforcement action to the Commission if Forms 144 filed in paper under Rules 101(b)(4) or 101(c)(6) of Regulation S-T are submitted via email in lieu of mailing or delivering the paper form to the SEC if the filer or submitter attaches a complete Form 144 as a PDF attachment to an email sent to PaperForms144@SEC.gov.If the filer or submitter is unable to provide a manual signature on the Form 144 submitted by email, the staff will not recommend enforcement action to the Commission if the filer or submitter provides a typed form of signature in lieu of the manual signature and:
- the signatory retains a manually signed signature page or other document authenticating, acknowledging, or otherwise adopting his or her signature that appears in typed form within the electronic submission and provides such document, as promptly as practicable, upon request by Division or other Commission staff;
- such document indicates the date and time when the signature was executed; and
- the filer or submitter (with the exception of natural persons) establishes and maintains policies and procedures governing this process.
Filers and submitters may continue to submit Forms 144 to the SEC mailroom. There may, however, be delays in the processing of such documents. . . .
http://www.brokeandbroker.com/5170/finra-arbitration-good-leaver/
In a recent FINRA Arbitration, the dispute seems to have come down to whether a former associated person had left the employ of FINRA member firm GFI in a "good" manner. As dubious a pre-condition as being a "Good Leaver" may seem, it turned out to be no joke because allegedly some seven figures worth of common stock was not issued under the terms of an incentive pay package. What do your think would constitute being deemed a "Good Leaver" in order to qualify for the issuance of stock following separation from employment? After you've thought that through, go ahead and read about today's featured arbitration.
Trump Vows to 'Expedite Help' for Beleaguered U.S. Farmers (Bloomberg by Mike Dorning)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-09/trump-administration-aims-to-unveil-plan-for-farm-aid-next-week?srnd=premium
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-09/trump-administration-aims-to-unveil-plan-for-farm-aid-next-week?srnd=premium
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Hundreds of U.S. Meat Workers Have Now Tested Positive for Virus (Bloomberg by Isis Almeida and Vincent Del Giudice)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-10/worsening-outbreak-at-colorado-meat-plant-impacts-as-many-as-300?srnd=premium
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-10/worsening-outbreak-at-colorado-meat-plant-impacts-as-many-as-300?srnd=premium
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Quarantine Bakers Are Making Flour a Hot Commodity / An ongoing global pandemic has turned many into avid home bakers, forcing suppliers to ramp up production (Bloomberg by Lydia Mulvany and Michael Hirtzer)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-10/quarantine-bakers-are-making-flour-a-hot-commodity?srnd=premium
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-10/quarantine-bakers-are-making-flour-a-hot-commodity?srnd=premium
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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-09/restaurants-fear-closure-as-stimulus-leaves-too-many-rent-holes?srnd=premium
As part of my ongoing fascination with the impact of COVID-19 and the negative and positive impact it has on potential investment opportunities. As noted in part in the Bloomberg article by Mike Dorning:
Farmers, who have already suffered through the U.S.-China trade war and years of grain gluts, have been dealt a further blow by the virus which has damped the outlook for commodity demand. In some areas, fruit and vegetable growers have let produce rot in the fields as demand plummeted after restaurants shut. At the same time, some dairy farmers have resorted to dumping milk because the market for cheese and butter collapsed.
In the face of increasing reports about the spread of COVD-19 in the meatpacking industry, the Bloomberg article by Isis Almeida and Vincent Del Giudice) states in part that:
In contrast to that dire picture, the Bloomberg article by Lydia Mulvany and Michael Hirtzer states that:Plants across the U.S. are starting to reduce output or idle as cases spread from the main cities to rural America. Laborers have, in some cases, staged walk-outs to protest working conditions. In meat plants, stations on processing lines can be close together, creating challenges for social distancing. Workers share break and locker rooms.
The deaths reported Friday bring the total reported for JBS employees to three. On Tuesday, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which represents thousands of poultry workers, said two of its members working at a Tyson Foods Inc. plant in Camilla, Georgia, died from the virus.
Smithfield said it will close its South Dakota plant for three days. The company will suspend operations in a large section of the plant on April 11 and completely shutter on April 12 and April 13. The facility has 3,700 employees.
In addition to the issues of supply-and-demand in the agricultural sector, the Bloomberg article by Kate Krader and James Tarmy raises equally troubling issues impacting the restaurant sector and its landlords (which further impacts the demand-side for foodstuffs):As a result, baking staples can be hard to find at grocery stores these days as society finds comfort in carbohydrates. Sales of baking yeast were up 457% over last year for the week ending March 28, according to Nielsen data. Flour was up 155%, baking powder up 178%, butter up 73% and eggs up 48%.
"I hear calls of 'cancel the rent!' " says Jeffrey LeFrancois, executive director of New York's Meatpacking Business Improvement District. "But a lot of property owners are in situations that aren't dissimilar to restaurants" in that they have their own financial obligations and loans to pay. "Not many landlords are reaping pure profit from tenants," he says. "They don't want a tenant not to reopen. Then they have empty storefronts to deal with, and we are going to see a lot of those."