Investment funds and publicly listed companies that are struggling to respond to the economic fallout from the spread of COVID-19 have been given a 45-day extension to file financial documents by the country’s provincial securities regulators.
The extension applies to market participants that are required to deliver certain types of records to the provincial securities commissions on or before June 1, the Canadian Securities Administrators announced Wednesday. The CSA is the umbrella organization for the country’s provincial regulators.
The extension applies to an array of required filings, including financial statements, management’s discussion and analysis, management reports of fund performance and annual information forms.
The announcement is a slight shift in approach for the regulators. On Monday, the CSA issued a statement encouraging publicly traded companies that were at risk of missing deadlines to apply for a special management cease trade order, or MCTO.
That step would allow companies to miss their deadline, while only prohibiting senior executives and directors from trading on the information that had not yet been released to the public. Obtaining an MCTO allows companies to avoid a failure-to-file cease trade order, which could have a devastating impact on a company’s liquidity and ability to obtain financing.
In Wednesday’s release, the CSA announced that any company that avails itself of the 45-day extension will not be required to apply for an MCTO either.
The CSA also said it intends to soon publish guidance about the possibility of virtual shareholder meetings, which would be compliant with the social distancing practices that are being recommended by public health officials.