Small Business Investment Companies: Passive Business Expansion and Technical Clarifications

Resumo

On December 28, 2016, the Small Business Administration (SBA) published a final rule to expand permitted investments in passive businesses and provide further clarification with regard to investments in such businesses for the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) Program, with an effective date of January 27, 2017. On January 26, 2017, SBA published a notification delaying the effective date until March 21, 2017 and re-opened the rule for additional public comment. On March 21, 2017, SBA published another notification to delay the effective date of this rule until May 20, 2017, to give the new administration time to further consider the rule. After reviewing the final rule, SBA is considering removing the provision that would allow SBICs to use a blocker corporation under its regulations if an investor of an SBIC has elected to be taxed as a regulated investment company (RIC) and a direct investment into the operating company would cause the investor to receive or be deemed to receive income that would jeopardize its RIC status. SBA is seeking additional comments regarding the removal of this provision. In order to give the public time to provide comments and for SBA to review