The capital markets are definitely unforgiving with changing regulations, changing listing requirements, and changing exemptions but the only unchanged consistency over all for small businesses raising money to go public on a stock exchange is getting “sophisticated investors” interested in your firm.
Every jurisdiction may not have exactly the same name or the same criteria, but what is common is that there is an exemption for investors who qualify. These are sophisticated, accredited, qualified, and high net worth investors.
Within the United Kingdom, there is one FSA regulated database called the Qualified Investor Register, which takes the self-certified documentation and stores this information for regulated and unregulated offerings to refer to as a way to “categorize” the type of investor they solicited. However the database itself is not allowed to be used for solicitation.
In all of our research there has actually only been one database privately held that assists Qualified and Sophisticated Investors. The two websites based on the different terms are http://www.sophisticatedinvestorregister.com and http://www.qualifiedinvestorregister.com.
We highly recommend going to one of these websites and seeing if you qualify. A private database for registering your self-certification will allow for in the future firms like Facebook, or LinkedIn, or other major IPOs to have the right and legal ability to contact you.
Most people miss the high profile IPOs because they are not certified and or recognized reasonably as being “sophisticated” even though they do qualify.
I suggest going and seeing if you qualify today at http://www.sophisticatedinvestorregister.com.
Again, the benefit is access to a pretty exclusive club of investor opportunities that only self-certified sophisticated, accredited, and qualified investors can access.
For companies, the sophisticated investor register opens up the opportunity of being able to contact potential investors under a universal exemption. This exemption immediately can add your profile to fund managers, brokers, and IPO experts who make exclusive offerings, but cannot without certification. As part of the service, you receive a QR Code – Identification system, an official certificate to be signed and faxed back into the register, and free filing of your information with local government databases.
IF YOU HAVEN’T JOINED THE SOPHISTICATED INVESTOR REGISTER THAN YOU WILL NOT KNOW WHAT MAJOR IPO YOU ARE MISSING!
Qualify for major IPOS if you are a US, American, Canadian, Australian, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Chinese, Indian, EU, Latin American, Central American or UK Sophisticated Investor you need to certify today! If you are not sure, qualify and we will get the proper documentation for becoming part of the register!
US Accredited and Sophisticated Investors. In the United States Securities Commission (SEC) definitions of an accredited investor the most common classification that people actually are include a natural person with an annual income of over $200,000 in each of the two most recent years or joint income with a spouse exceeding $300,000 or net worth or joint net worth exceeding $1 million USD excluding the value of primary residence. However, there are definitions for trusts, business directors of the issuer, employee plans, retirement plans, and trusts that also make up this definition. (http://www.sec.gov/answers/accred.htm)
We do encourage small business owners, trusts with assets over $5 million, banks, insurance companies, business development companies and small business investment companies to register as well. The point of registering is to keep record of your ability to participate in offerings you would and could qualify for. This is an invaluable free service by http://www.sophisticatedinvestorregister.com.
Canadian Sophisticated – Accredited Investors. As a Canadian, the terms are pretty general across Canada for Accredited Canadian Investors. In Ontario Canada, this exemption extends to $1 million in financial assets or net worth of $5 million. One of the particular point is of course persons the OSC recognizes as an accredited investor, which again brings us back to certifications inside of a database that has collected your data as a third party to verify and file with local authorities if required or part of a subscription or offering. (http://www.osc.gov.on.ca/en/21943.htm) Most of the Canadian Accredited Investor jurisdictions are similar to that of Ontario with a few small differences in definitions of assets. See if you are qualified as a Canadian Investor.
As a registered accredited, sophisticated, and high net worth investor, you can generally invest as much as you want to as long as you the primary and principal investor are certified.
Australian Sophisticated, Professional Investor. Within the Australia Sophisticated Investor registration process, the caveats are a little stronger with a requirement of an auditor to give proof of net worth of $2.5 million or two consecutive years of $250,000 per annum. Otherwise, it is defined by the investments size of over $500,000. The most common exemption is generally the professional investor in Australia, of which again there is not a reliable database accept for through www.qualifiedinvestorregister.com. Australian Investors should register themselves, companies, and or status to see if they can take part in international IPOs through this exemption.
Hong Kong Sophisticated Professional Investor. Within the Hong Kong sophisticated professional investor definitions, a high net-worth individual has one of the following, a portfolio of not less than HK$ 8millon, corporations or partnerships or trustee companies with portfolios of that size or total assets of HK$40 million, or corporations that solely act as investment holding companies, and owned by a sophisticated professional investor. As a Hong Kong professional I suggest seeing if you qualify today for the Sophisticated Investor Register. (http://www.sophisticatedinvestorregister.com)
UK Sophisticated Investor – Qualified Investor – High Net Worth Investor. As a UK Sophisticated, High Net Worth, Qualified Investor,within the UK definitions of a sophisticated investor, the register is extremely important, especially for Unregulated Collective Investment Schemes where by the company can’t both market and sell to a sophisticated investor that they the fund certified. Having the persons go to a third party first for certification, such as the http://www.sophisticatedinvestorregister.com allows for the promoters of a UCIS to send their investors to register first through the “third party” and return with the certification to invest within the collective investment scheme. Therefore all firms working with UCIS projects should send their investors to the register to ensure they don’t fall foul of Artcile 23 PCIS Order. It is the responsibility of the provider and distributor to send them to this third party register to return to the investment scheme and make a placement.
UK Investors who wish to take advantage of major foreign and local IPOs should consider certifying through a register so that they fully comprehend the risks and benefits. A sophisticated and qualified investor must update their certificate on a 12 month cycle. The Sophisticated Investor Register reminds and keeps informed the register members to ensure this information is kept up to date by the member and they re-certify annually.
The “high net worth” and “sophisticated investor used to be made by a third party and it became apparent that the exemptions were being rarely used due to their being a lack of a registry and cost of the process. This undermined the investors from having the opportunity to take part in IPOs and investments and effected the intention which was to raise funds through private equity from business angels for IPOs and small business. In the UK, a high net worth individual must certify the annual income must is in access of 100,000 GBP, net assets in excess of 250,000 GBP excluding primary residence, insurance, and pension policies. As a sophisticated investor, the potential investor has to certify if they are a member of a network or syndicate of business angels for the last 6 months, has made more than one investment in an unlisted company in the previous two years, has worked in the previous two years in a professional capacity in the private equity sectors or in the provision of finance for small or medium sized companies, or has been in the previous two years a director of a company with an annual turnover of at least 1 million GBP.
The easiest process of understanding your position is to register today at http://www.sophisticatedinvestorregister.com.