An exemption from the registration requirements of Section 5 of the 1933 Act for resales of certain restricted securities to qualified institutional buyers. In particular, Rule 144A affords safe harbor treatment for reoffers or resales to Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs)—by persons other than issuers—of securities of domestic and foreign issuers that are not listed on a U.S. securities exchange or quoted on a U.S. automated inter-dealer quotation system.
Rule 144A provides that reoffers and resales in compliance with the rule are not "distributions" and that the reseller is therefore not an "underwriter" within the meaning of Section 2(a)(11) of the 1933 Act.