Rule 16a-1
  Definition of Terms
Terms defined in this rule shall apply solely to section 16 of the Act
and the rules thereunder. These terms shall not be limited to section
16(a) of the Act but also shall apply to all other subsections under
section 16 of the Act.
a.
The term beneficial
owner shall have the following applications:
1.
Solely for purposes
of determining whether a person is a beneficial owner of more than ten
percent of any class of equity securities registered pursuant to section
12 of the Act, the term "beneficial owner" shall mean any person
who is deemed a beneficial owner pursuant to
section
13(d) of the Act and the rules thereunder; provided, however,
that the following institutions or persons shall not be deemed the beneficial
owner of securities of such class held for the benefit of third parties
or in customer or fiduciary accounts in the ordinary course of business
(or in the case of an employee benefit plan specified in paragraph (a)(1)(vi)
of this section, of securities of such class allocated to plan participants
where participants have voting power) as long as such shares are acquired
by such institutions or persons without the purpose or effect of changing
or influencing control of the issuer or engaging in any arrangement subject
to Rule 13d-3(b):
i. A
broker or dealer registered under
section
15 of the Act;
ii. A
bank as defined in
section
3(a)(6) of the Act;
iii. An
insurance company as defined in
section
3(a)(19) of the Act;
iv. An
investment company registered under section 8 of the Investment Company
Act of 1940;
v. Any
person registered as an investment adviser under Section 203 of the Investment
Advisers Act of 1940 or under the laws of any state;
vi. An
employee benefit plan as defined in Section 3(3) of the Employee Retirement
Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, 29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.
("ERISA") that is subject to the provisions of ERISA, or any
such plan that is not subject to ERISA that is maintained primarily for
the benefit of the employees of a state or local government or instrumentality,
or an endowment fund;
vii. A
parent holding company or control person, provided the aggregate amount
held directly by the parent or control person, and directly and indirectly
by their subsidiaries or affiliates that are not persons specified in
paragraphs (a)(1)(i) through (ix), does not exceed one percent of the
securities of the subject class;
viii. A
savings association as defined in Section 3(b) of the Federal Deposit
Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813);
ix. A
church plan that is excluded from the definition of an investment company
under section 3(c)(14) of the Investment Company Act of 1940; and
x. A
group, provided that all the members are persons specified in Rule 16a-1(a)(1)(i)
through (ix).
xi. A group, provided that all the members are persons specified
in Rule 16a-1(a)(1) (i) through (vii).
Note to paragraph
(a). Pursuant to this section, a person deemed a beneficial owner
of more than ten percent of any class of equity securities registered
under section 12
of the Act would file a Form 3, but the securities holdings disclosed
on Form 3, and changes in beneficial ownership reported on subsequent
Forms 4 or 5 , would be determined by the definition of "beneficial
owner" in paragraph (a)(2) of
this section.
2.
Other than for
purposes of determining whether a person is a beneficial owner of more
than ten percent of any class of equity securities registered under Section
12 of the Act, the term beneficial owner shall mean any person
who, directly or indirectly, through any contract, arrangement, understanding,
relationship or otherwise, has or shares a direct or indirect pecuniary
interest in the equity securities, subject to the following:
i. The
term pecuniary interest in any class of equity securities shall
mean the opportunity, directly or indirectly, to profit or share in any
profit derived from a transaction in the subject securities.
ii.
The term
indirect pecuniary interest in any class of equity securities shall
include, but not be limited to:
A. Securities
held by members of a person's immediate family sharing the same household;
provided, however, that the presumption of such beneficial ownership may
be rebutted; see also Rule 16a-1(a)(4);
B.
A
general partner's proportionate interest in the portfolio securities held
by a general or limited partnership. The general partner's proportionate
interest, as evidenced by the partnership agreement in effect at the time
of the transaction and the partnership's most recent financial statements,
shall be the greater of:
1. The general partner's share of the partnership's profits,
including profits attributed to any limited partnership interests held
by the general partner and any other interests in profits that arise from
the purchase and sale of the partnership's portfolio securities; or
2. The general partner's share of the partnership capital
account, including the share attributable to any limited partnership interest
held by the general partner.
C.
A
performance-related fee, other than an asset-based fee, received by any
broker, dealer, bank, insurance company, investment company, investment
adviser, investment manager, trustee or person or entity performing a
similar function; provided, however, that no pecuniary interest
shall be present where:
1. The performance-related fee, regardless of when payable,
is calculated based upon net capital gains and/or net capital appreciation
generated from the portfolio or from the fiduciary's overall performance
over a period of one year or more; and
2. Equity securities of the issuer do not account for
more than ten percent of the market value of the portfolio. A right to
a nonperformance-related fee alone shall not represent a pecuniary interest
in the securities;
D. A
person's right to dividends that is separated or separable from the underlying
securities. Otherwise, a right to dividends alone shall not represent
a pecuniary interest in the securities;
E. A
person's interest in securities held by a trust, as specified in
Rule
16a-8(b); and
F. A
person's right to acquire equity securities through the exercise or conversion
of any derivative security, whether or not presently exercisable.
iii. A
shareholder shall not be deemed to have a pecuniary interest in the portfolio
securities held by a corporation or similar entity in which the person
owns securities if the shareholder is not a controlling shareholder of
the entity and does not have or share investment control over the entity's
portfolio.
3. Where
more than one person subject to
section
16 of the Act is deemed to be a beneficial owner of the same equity
securities, all such persons must report as beneficial owners of the securities,
either separately or jointly, as provided in
Rule
16a-3(j). In such cases, the amount of short-swing profit recoverable
shall not be increased above the amount recoverable if there were only
one beneficial owner.
4. Any
person filing a statement pursuant to
section
16(a) of the Act may state that the filing shall not be deemed an
admission that such person is, for purposes of section 16 of the Act or
otherwise, the beneficial owner of any equity securities covered by the
statement.
5.
The following interests
are deemed not to confer beneficial ownership for purposes of
section
16 of the Act:
i. Interests
in portfolio securities held by any holding company registered under the
Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (15 U.S.C. 79a et seq.);
ii. Interests
in portfolio securities held by any investment company registered under
the Investment Company Act of 1940; and
iii. Interests
in securities comprising part of a broad-based, publicly traded market
basket or index of stocks, approved for trading by the appropriate federal
governmental authority.
b. The
term call equivalent position shall mean a derivative security
position that increases in value as the value of the underlying equity
increases, including, but not limited to, a long convertible security,
a long call option, and a short put option position.
c.
The term derivative
securities shall mean any option, warrant, convertible security, stock
appreciation right, or similar right with an exercise or conversion privilege
at a price related to an equity security, or similar securities with a
value derived from the value of an equity security, but shall not include:
1. Rights
of a pledgee of securities to sell the pledged securities;
2. Rights
of all holders of a class of securities of an issuer to receive securities
pro rata, or obligations to dispose of securities, as a result of a merger,
exchange offer, or consolidation involving the issuer of the securities;
3. Rights
or obligations to surrender a security, or have a security withheld, upon
the receipt or exercise of a derivative security or the receipt or vesting
of equity securities, in order to satisfy the exercise price or the tax
withholding consequences of receipt, exercise or vesting;
4. Interests
in broad-based index options, broad-based index futures, and broad-based
publicly traded market baskets of stocks approved for trading by the appropriate
federal governmental authority;
5. Interests
or rights to participate in employee benefit plans of the issuer;
6. Rights
with an exercise or conversion privilege at a price that is not fixed;
or
7. Options
granted to an underwriter in a registered public offering for the purpose
of satisfying over-allotments in such offering.
d. The
term equity security of such issuer shall mean any equity security
or derivative security relating to an issuer, whether or not issued by
that issuer.
e. The
term immediate family shall mean any child, stepchild, grandchild,
parent, stepparent, grandparent, spouse, sibling, mother-in-law, father-in-law,
son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law, and shall
include adoptive relationships.
f.
The term "officer"
shall mean an issuer's president, principal financial officer, principal
accounting officer (or, if there is no such accounting officer, the controller),
any vice-president of the issuer in charge of a principal business unit,
division or function (such as sales, administration or finance), any other
officer who performs a policy-making function, or any other person who
performs similar policy-making functions for the issuer. Officers of the
issuer's parent(s) or subsidiaries shall be deemed officers of the issuer
if they perform such policy-making functions for the issuer. In addition,
when the issuer is a limited partnership, officers or employees of the
general partner(s) who perform policy-making functions for the limited
partnership are deemed officers of the limited partnership. When the issuer
is a trust, officers or employees of the trustee(s) who perform policy-making
functions for the trust are deemed officers of the trust.
Note: "Policy-making function" is not
intended to include policy-making functions that are not significant.
If pursuant to
Item 401(b) of
Regulation S-K the issuer identifies a person as an "executive officer,"
it is presumed that the Board of Directors has made that judgment and
that the persons so identified are the officers for purposes of
Section
16 of the Act, as are such other persons enumerated in this paragraph
(f) but not in Item 401(b).
g. The
term portfolio securities shall mean all securities owned by an
entity, other than securities issued by the entity.
h. The
term put equivalent position shall mean a derivative security position
that increases in value as the value of the underlying equity decreases,
including, but not limited to, a long put option and a short call option
position.
Regulatory History |
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SEC Release 34-28869: 56
FR 7265, Feb. 21, 1991 SEC
Release 34-29131:
56 FR 19927, May 1, 1991
SEC Release 34-37260: 61
FR 30376, 30391, June 14, 1996 SEC
Release 34-39538: 63 FR 2854, 2868, Jan. 16, 1998 SEC
Release 34-39538A |
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