Regarding H.R. 3606 "Reopening American Capital Markets to Emerging Growth Companies Act of 2011," Bruce Aust, Executive V.P. of NASDAQ OMX, Global Client Group, provides the following statement: NASDAQ OMX congratulates the United States Senate for quick action to pass H.R. 3606, the "Reopening American Capital Markets to Emerging Growth Companies Act of 2011, also known as the "Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act." This legislation tracks the important recommendations of the IPO Task Force about how to help small companies access the capital markets. It will be good for America and help create jobs for our economy.
As the debate about how small companies are treated by the regulatory system when they go public ends and H.R. 3606 moves closer to becoming law, it is now time for Congress to turn its attention to how the stocks of these and other small companies will actually trade in our equity markets. For too long, our securities laws have applied the same trading regime to large-capitalization companies and small-capitalization companies. As H.R. 3606 demonstrates, small companies can benefit from carefully crafted rules that apply to their narrow category of market capitalization. It is time to look for ways to help emerging growth and other smaller listed companies with innovative trading rules that will help liquidity and transparency, ultimately benefitting investors. NASDAQ OMX looks forward to engaging Congress, the SEC and investors on what we believe is an important discussion.