In June, SNL Financial reported that going-private transactions were on the rise in 2005, with 28 banks and thrifts either already deregistered or in the process of doing so as of May 5, compared to 30 deregistrations in all of 2004 and 33 in 2003. A number of companies this year have identified Sarbanes-Oxley compliance costs as motive for the deregistration.
Through the end of September, the pace has kept up, with another 24 institutions seeking to exit SEC oversight, for a total of 52 in the year so far. But in August, two institutions with an eye on the exit door reversed course, announcing that they were ending short-lived investigations into going-private transactions. In their decision to reverse course, both companies cited the ongoing regulatory initiatives to consider the impact of SarbOx on small companies, and anticipated a further extension of the compliance deadline for SarbOx's internal control requirements.
See full Article.
Posts
