The Treasury’s sixth round of TARP Capital infusions included five more public companies companies that are traded on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board. Three institutions received TARP Capital under the public company term sheet, while the other two institutions received TARP Capital under the non-public company term sheet.
As a result, it appears clear that the Treasury is willing to allow public reporting companies that are traded over the OTCBB participate in the TARP Capital program under either the public company terms or the non-public company terms. We still haven’t seen any public reporting companies that are traded over the Pink Sheets receive TARP Capital funds, but one would presume that they will receive the same deference shown to OTCBB companies.
The Treasury’s fourth round of completed TARP Capital infusions added four more public companies that are traded on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board (OTCBB): Blue Valley Ban Corp., Coastal Banking Company, Inc., Manhattan Bancorp, and Oak Valley Bancorp. As a result, it seems clear that the Treasury is willing to allow public reporting companies that are traded over the OTCBB participate in the TARP Capital program under the public company terms.
As we’ve previously noted, the definition provided by the Treasury of a publicly traded company is “a company (1) whose securities are traded on a national securities exchange and (2) required to file, under the federal securities laws, periodic reports such as the annual (Form 10-K) and quarterly (Form 10-Q) reports with either the Securities and Exchange Commission or its primary federal bank regulator.” While the Treasury has not defined what constitutes a national securities exchange, the OTCBB is generally not considered a “national securities exchange.” The SEC does not consider the OTCBB to be a national securities exchange. Neither does the OTCBB itself, which states that it is “not an issuer listing service, market or exchange.”