Possibly not so secretly as the tabloid-style headline puts it. This is from an article, titled
"Facebook I.P.O. Raises Regulatory Concerns" in
the NYTimes DealBook section at 6:37 this evening:
"Regulators are concerned, in part, that banks may have shared information with certain clients, rather than broadly with investors. . . . . .
“If true, the allegations are a matter of regulatory concern to Finra” and the Securities and Exchange Commision, Richard G. Ketchum, the chief executive of Finra said in a statement.
"Morgan Stanley said in its statement:
After Facebook released a revised S-1 filing on May 9 providing additional guidance with respect to business trends, a copy of the amendment was forwarded to all of Morgan Stanley’s institutional and retail investors and the amendment was widely publicized in the press at the time. In response to the information about business trends, a significant number of research analysts in the syndicate who were participating in investor education reduced their earnings views to reflect their estimate of the impact of the new information. These revised views were taken into account in the pricing of the I.P.O.
Under SEC Rule FD, a company disclosing material information to anyone must make a general disclosure to the market.
One issue will be whether the
alleged amendment to the S-1 was sufficient to satisfy that requirement, or whether more was required, say a press-release, plus a delay of a day or two in the offering.
