Investment Company Tombstone Ads
The SEC does allow communications/advertisements about a new offering that include only general information about that offering. Often, this information is presented in a tombstone ad, which is a very basic advertisement that investment bankers place in a newspaper or financial magazine to announce a new securities offer.
Unlike generic advertisements, tombstone advertisements may contain a solicitation for the sale of particular securities. However, they may only be published after an issuer has filed a registration statement that includes a prospectus.
An investment company tombstone ad may incorporate almost any type of information except for a fund’s performance data. The information a tombstone ad may convey includes the following items:
• factual information about the legal identity and business location of the issuer
• the title of the securities and the amounts being offered
• a brief indication of the general type of business of the issuer
• the price of the security, if known, or the method for its determination
• a brief description of the intended use of the offering’s proceeds
• the name, address, phone number, and e-mail address of the sender
• the type of underwriting and the identities of the underwriters
• the anticipated schedule for the offering
• a description of the procedures by which the underwriters will conduct the offering
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