The Business Plan And Private Placement Memo
Joseph W. Bartlett, Special Counsel, McCarter & English LLP, Co-Founder of VCExperts
McCarter & English LLP
2002-08-02
Since a private placement memorandum, usually abbreviated as the PPM, is the norm in most deals, the founder should familiarize himself with the standards for memorandum preparation, keeping in mind that, like any legal document, there are various audiences. The audience composed of potential plaintiffs (and, theoretically at least, the SEC enforcement staff) will read the document against the requirements contained in the cases imposing liability. The audience composed of investors will read the document for its substantive content: "What are the terms of the deal?" To professional investors interested enough to become potential buyers, the private placement memorandum is a handy collection of only some of the information they are interested in, plus a lot of surplus verbiage (the empty language about suitability standards, for example). To the issuer, it is a sales document, putting the best face possible on the company and its prospects. To the managers, the memorandum is a summary of the business plan. Indeed, it may incorporate the business plan as an exhibit or be "wrapped around" the plan itself—a memorialization of how the business is to be conducted.
The first page of the PPM, the cover page, contains some of the information one might see on the front of a statutory prospectus: name of the issuer, summary description of the securities to be sold, whether the issue is primary (proceeds to the issuer) and/or secondary (proceeds to selling shareholders), the price per share, the gross and net proceeds (minus selling commissions and expenses), and a risk factor or two (that is, the offering is "highly speculative" and the securities will not be liquid). Some would argue a date is important, because, legally, the document speaks as of a certain date. However, if the memo becomes substantively stale between the offer and the closing, it is critical that the issuer update and circulate it; omission of material information as of the closing is not excusable on the theory that the memo displays an earlier date. Moreover, a dated memorandum will appear just that—dated—if a few months elapse and the issue is still unsold. A related issue is whether to specify a minimum amount of proceeds that must be subscribed if the offering is to go forward. If the financing is subject to a "minimum," a reference belongs on the cover page. It makes common sense that there be a critical mass in most placements; however, a stated requirement that X dollars be raised or all subscriptions returned inhibits an early-closing strategy—the ability to "close," if only in escrow—with the most eager of the issuer's potential investors. Such "closings " may not be substantively meaningful; the deal may be that the "closing" will be revisited if more money is not raised. However, a first closing can have a salubrious shock effect on the overall financing; it can bring to a halt ongoing (sometimes interminable) negotiations on the terms of the deal and create a bandwagon effect.
The cover page should be notated, a handwritten number inscribed to help record the destination of each private placement memorandum. It is also customary to reflect self-serving, exculpatory language (of varying effectiveness in protecting the issuer), that is:
1. The offer is only an offer in jurisdictions where it can be legally made and then only to persons meeting suitability standards imposed by state and federal law. (The offer is, in fact, an "offer" whenever and to whomsoever a court designates.)
2. The memorandum is not to be reproduced (about the same effectiveness as stamping Department of Defense papers "Eyes Only," a legend understood in bureaucratese to mean, "may be important … make several copies").
3. No person is authorized to give out any information other than that contained in the memo. (Since the frequent practice is for selling agents to expand liberally on the memo's contents, it would be extraordinary if extraneous statements by an authorized agent of the issuer were not allowed in evidence against the issuer, unless perhaps they are expressly inconsistent with the language of the memo.)
4. The private placement memorandum contains summaries of important documents (a statement of the obvious), and the summaries are "qualified by reference" to the full documentation. (A materially inaccurate summary is unlikely to be excused simply because investors were cautioned to read the entire instrument.)
5. Each investor is urged to consult his own attorney and accountant. (No one knows what this means; if the legally expertised portions of the private placement memorandum are otherwise actionably false, it would take an unusually forgiving judge to decide the plaintiff should have obeyed the command and hired personal counsel.)
6. The offering has not been registered under the '33 Act and the SEC has not approved it.
The foregoing is not meant as an exercise in fine legal writing and the avoidance of excess verbiage. Certain legends are mandatory as a matter of good lawyering—a summary of the "risk factors"; a statement that investors may ask questions and review answers and obtain additional information (an imperative of Reg. D); and, of course, the language required by various state securities administrators. A recitation tipping investors that they will be required in the subscription documents to make representations about their wealth and experience is generally desirable, particularly in light of cases finding against plaintiffs who falsified their representation. However, in my opinion, a cover page loaded with superfluous exculpations may cheapen a venture financing, signaling to readers that the deal is borderline, in a league with "double write-off" offerings in the real estate and tax-shelter areas.
A well-written private placement memorandum will follow the cover page with a summary of the offering. This section corresponds to a term sheet, except that the language is usually spelled out, not abbreviated. The important points are covered briefly: a description of the terms of the offering, the company's business, risk factors, additional terms (i.e., anti-dilution protection, registration rights, control features), expenses of the transaction and summary financial information. The purpose of the summary is to make the offering easy to read and understand. As stated, suppliers of capital are inundated with business plans and private placement memoranda; the sales-conscious issuer must get all the salient facts in as conspicuous a position as possible if he hopes to have them noticed.
At this juncture, it is customary to reproduce investor suitability standards, identifying and flagging the principal requirements for a Reg. D offering, that is, the definition of "accredited investor."
Issuers should approach offerings that have stated maximums and minimums with caution. The SEC has made its position clear. If the issuer elects to increase or decrease the size of the offering above the stated maximum/minimum, each of the investors who have signed subscription agreements must consent to the change in writing. It is not open to the issuer to send out a notice to the effect that "We are raising or lowering the minimum and, if we do not hear from you, we assume you consent." The issuer must obtain the affirmative consent of each investor, which may be a bit difficult if the investor is, at that point, somewhere in Katmandu.
Investors should be aware that issuers sometimes do not want the investors to know certain information. For example, some issuers elect to code the numbers on the private placement memorandum so that no investor knows he is receiving, say, number 140; he is, instead, receiving "14-G."
Finally, the current trend is to prepare both a full placement memo as well as a brief summary, such as the so-called "elevator pitch", a concise summary that can be read while riding in an elevator. Venture capitalists are chronically short on time and a 40-page document is likely to be left unread if this is the only pitch material available.