Order Granting Limited Exemptions From Exchange Act Rule 10b-17 and Rules 101 and 102 of Regulation M to ProShares Morningstar Alternatives Solution ETF Pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 10b-17(b)(2) and Rules 101(d) and 102(e) of Regulation M
Federal Register, Volume 79 Issue 196 (Thursday, October 9, 2014)
Federal Register Volume 79, Number 196 (Thursday, October 9, 2014)
Notices
Pages 61115-61117
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office www.gpo.gov
FR Doc No: 2014-24101
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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Release No. 34-73298; File No. TP 14-13
Order Granting Limited Exemptions From Exchange Act Rule 10b-17 and Rules 101 and 102 of Regulation M to ProShares Morningstar Alternatives Solution ETF Pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 10b-17(b)(2) and Rules 101(d) and 102(e) of Regulation M
October 3, 2014.
By letter dated October 3, 2014 (the ``Letter''), as supplemented by conversations with the staff of the Division of Trading and Markets, counsel for ProShares Trust (the ``Trust'') on behalf of the Trust, ProShares Morningstar Alternatives Solution ETF (the ``Fund''), any national securities exchange on or through which shares issued by the Fund (``Shares'') are listed or may subsequently trade, SEI Investments Distribution Co., and other persons or entities engaging in transactions in Shares (collectively, the ``Requestors'') requested exemptions, or interpretive or no-action relief, from Rule 10b-17 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (``Exchange Act''), and Rules 101 and 102 of Regulation M, in connection with secondary market transactions in Shares and the creation or redemption of aggregations of Shares of at least 10,000 shares (``Creation Units'').
The Trust is registered with the Commission under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (``1940 Act''), as an open-end management investment company. The Fund will seek results that correspond generally to the return (before the Fund's fees and expenses) of the Morningstar Alternatives Index (the ``Index''). The Index is designed to provide diversified exposure to alternative asset classes with the goal of enhancing risk adjusted portfolio returns when combined with a range of traditional investments. The Index allocates among a comprehensive set of alternative ETFs sponsored or advised by the Fund's adviser or its affiliates that employ alternative and non-
traditional strategies such as long/short, market neutral, managed futures, hedge fund replication, private equity, infrastructure or inflation-related investments. The maximum allocation to any particular ETF or exchange-traded commodity pool (``ETCP'') is 30%. The Fund intends to operate as an ``ETF of ETFs'' by seeking to track the performance of its Index through investing at least 80% of its total assets in the ETFs and ETCPs that comprise its
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Index. Except for the fact that the Fund will operate as an ETF of ETFs, the Fund will operate in a manner substantially identical to the ETFs that are included in the Index.
The Requestors represent, among other things, the following:
Shares of the Fund will be issued by the Trust, an open-
end management investment company that is registered with the Commission;
The Trust will continuously redeem Creation Units at net asset value (``NAV'') and the secondary market price of the Shares should not vary substantially from the NAV of such Shares;
Shares of the Fund will be listed and traded on NYSE Arca, Inc. or other exchange in accordance with exchange listing standards that are, or will become, effective pursuant to Section 19(b) of the Exchange Act (the ``Exchange''); \1\
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\1\ Further, the Letter states that should the Shares also trade on a market pursuant to unlisted trading privileges, such trading will be conducted pursuant to self-regulatory organization rules that are effective pursuant to Section 19(b) of the Exchange Act.
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All ETFs in which the Fund is invested will meet all conditions set forth in a relevant class relief letter,\2\ will have received individual relief from the Commission, or can rely on individual relief even though they are not named parties (for example, a no-action letter); \3\
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\2\ Exchange Act Rel. No. 67215 (Jun. 19, 2012); 77 FR 37941 (Jun. 25, 2012); Letter from Catherine McGuire, Esq., Chief Counsel, Division of Market Regulation, to the Securities Industry Association Derivative Products Committee (November 21, 2005); Letter from Racquel L. Russell, Branch Chief, Division of Market Regulation, to George T. Simon, Esq., Foley & Lardner LLP (June 21, 2006); Letter from James A. Brigagliano, Acting Associate Director, Division of Market Regulation, to Stuart M. Strauss, Esq., Clifford Chance US LLP (October 24, 2006); Letter from James A. Brigagliano, Associate Director, Division of Market Regulation, to Benjamin Haskin, Esq., Willkie. Farr & Gallagher LLP (April 9, 2007); or Letter from Josephine Tao, Assistant Director, Division of Trading and Markets, to Domenick Pugliese, Esq., Paul, Hastings, Janofsky and Walker LLP (June 27, 2007). See also Staff Legal Bulletin No. 9, ``Frequently Asked Questions About Regulation M'' (Apr. 12, 2002) (regarding actively-managed ETFs).
\3\ See, e.g., Letter from James A. Brigagliano, Associate Director, Division of Market Regulation, to Kathleen H. Moriarty, Carter, Ledyard & Milburn, dated January 24, 2007 (with respect to the additional funds of ProShares Trust).
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All the components of the Index will have publicly available last sale trade information;
The intra-day proxy value of the Fund per share and the value of the Index will be publicly disseminated by a major market data vendor throughout the trading day;
On each business day before the opening of business on the Exchange, the Fund's index receipt agent, through the National Securities Clearing Corporation, will make available the list of the names and the numbers of securities and other assets of the Fund's portfolio that will be applicable that day to creation and redemption requests;
The Exchange or other market information provider will disseminate (i) continuously every 15 seconds throughout the trading day, through the facilities of the consolidated tape, the market value of a Share and (ii) every 15 seconds throughout the trading day, a calculation of the intraday indicative value of a Share;
The arbitrage mechanism will be facilitated by the transparency of the Fund's portfolio and the availability of the intra-
day indicative value, the liquidity of securities held by the Fund and the ability to acquire such securities, as well as the arbitrageurs' ability to create workable hedges;
The Fund will invest solely in liquid securities;
The Fund will invest in securities that will facilitate an effective and efficient arbitrage mechanism and the ability to create workable hedges;
The Trust believes that arbitrageurs are expected to take advantage of price variations between the Fund's market price and its NAV; and
A close alignment between the market price of Shares and the Fund's NAV is expected.
Regulation M
While redeemable securities issued by an open-end management investment company are excepted from the provisions of Rule 101 and 102 of Regulation M, the Requestors may not rely upon that exception for the Shares.\4\ However, we find that it is appropriate in the public interest and is consistent with the protection of investors to grant a conditional exemption from Rules 101 and 102 to persons who may be deemed to be participating in a distribution of Shares of the Fund as described in more detail below.
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\4\ While ETFs operate under exemptions from the definitions of ``open-end company'' under Section 5(a)(1) of the 1940 Act and ``redeemable security'' under Section 2(a)(32) of the 1940 Act, the Fund and its securities do not meet those definitions.
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Rule 101 of Regulation M
Generally, Rule 101 of Regulation M is an anti-manipulation rule that, subject to certain exceptions, prohibits any ``distribution participant'' and its ``affiliated purchasers'' from bidding for, purchasing, or attempting to induce any person to bid for or purchase any security which is the subject of a distribution until after the applicable restricted period, except as specifically permitted in the rule. Rule 100 of Regulation M defines ``distribution'' to mean any offering of securities that is distinguished from ordinary trading transactions by the magnitude of the offering and the presence of special selling efforts and selling methods. The provisions of Rule 101 of Regulation M apply to underwriters, prospective underwriters, brokers, dealers, or other persons who have agreed to participate or are participating in a distribution of securities. The Shares are in a continuous distribution and, as such, the restricted period in which distribution participants and their affiliated purchasers are prohibited from bidding for, purchasing, or attempting to induce others to bid for or purchase extends indefinitely.
Based on the representations and facts presented in the Letter, particularly that the Trust is a registered open-end management investment company that will continuously redeem at the NAV Creation Unit size aggregations of the Shares of the Fund and that a close alignment between the market price of Shares and the Fund's NAV is expected, the Commission finds that it is appropriate in the public interest and consistent with the protection of investors to grant the Trust an exemption under paragraph (d) of Rule 101 of Regulation M with respect to the Fund, thus permitting persons participating in a distribution of Shares of the Fund to bid for or purchase such Shares during their participation in such distribution.\5\
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\5\ Additionally, we confirm the interpretation that a redemption of Creation Unit size aggregations of Shares of the Fund and the receipt of securities in exchange by a participant in a distribution of Shares of the Fund would not constitute an ``attempt to induce any person to bid for or purchase, a covered security during the applicable restricted period'' within the meaning of Rule 101 of Regulation M and therefore would not violate that rule.
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Rule 102 of Regulation M
Rule 102 of Regulation M prohibits issuers, selling security holders, and any affiliated purchaser of such person from bidding for, purchasing, or attempting to induce any person to bid for or purchase a covered security during the applicable restricted period in connection with a distribution of securities effected by or on behalf of an issuer or selling security holder.
Based on the representations and facts presented in the Letter, particularly that the Trust is a registered open-end management investment company that will redeem at the NAV Creation Units of Shares of the Fund and that a close alignment between the market price of
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Shares and the Fund's NAV is expected, the Commission finds that it is appropriate in the public interest and consistent with the protection of investors to grant the Trust an exemption under paragraph (e) of Rule 102 of Regulation M with respect to the Fund, thus permitting the Fund to redeem Shares of the Fund during the continuous offering of such Shares.
Rule 10b-17
Rule 10b-17, with certain exceptions, requires an issuer of a class of publicly traded securities to give notice of certain specified actions (for example, a dividend distribution) relating to such class of securities in accordance with Rule 10b-17(b). Based on the representations and facts in the Letter, and subject to the conditions below, we find that it is appropriate in the public interest, and consistent with the protection of investors to grant the Trust a conditional exemption from Rule 10b-17 because market participants will receive timely notification of the existence and timing of a pending distribution, and thus the concerns that the Commission raised in adopting Rule 10b-17 will not be implicated.\6\
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\6\ We also note that timely compliance with Rule 10b-
17(b)(1)(v)(a) and (b) would be impractical in light of the nature of the Fund. This is because it is not possible for the Fund to accurately project ten days in advance what dividend, if any, would be paid on a particular record date.
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Conclusion
It is hereby ordered, pursuant to Rule 101(d) of Regulation M, that the Trust, based on the representations and facts presented in the Letter, is exempt from the requirements of Rule 101 with respect to the Fund, thus permitting persons who may be deemed to be participating in a distribution of Shares of the Fund to bid for or purchase such Shares during their participation in such distribution.
It is further ordered, pursuant to Rule 102(e) of Regulation M, that the Trust, based on the representations and the facts presented in the Letter, is exempt from the requirements of Rule 102 with respect to the Fund, thus permitting the Fund to redeem Shares of the Fund during the continuous offering of such Shares.
It is further ordered, pursuant to Rule 10b-17(b)(2), that the Trust, based on the representations and the facts presented in the Letter and subject to the conditions below, is exempt from the requirements of Rule 10b-17 with respect to transactions in the shares of the Fund.
This exemptive relief is subject to the following conditions:
The Trust will comply with Rule 10b-17 except for Rule 10b-17(b)(1)(v)(a) and (b); and
The Trust will provide the information required by Rule 10b-17(b)(1)(v)(a) and (b) to the Exchange as soon as practicable before trading begins on the ex-dividend date, but in no event later than the time when the Exchange last accepts information relating to distributions on the day before the ex-dividend date.
This exemptive relief is subject to modification or revocation at any time the Commission determines that such action is necessary or appropriate in furtherance of the purposes of the Exchange Act. This exemption is based on the facts presented and the representations made in the Letter. Any different facts or conditions may require a different response. In the event that any material change occurs in the facts or representations in the Letter, transactions in Shares of the Fund must be discontinued, pending presentation of the facts for our consideration. In addition, persons relying on this exemption are directed to the anti-fraud and anti-manipulation provisions of the Exchange Act, particularly Sections 9(a), 10(b), and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. Responsibility for compliance with these and any other applicable provisions of the federal securities laws must rest with the persons relying on this exemption. This order should not be considered a view with respect to any other question that the proposed transactions may raise, including, but not limited to the adequacy of the disclosure concerning, and the applicability of other federal or state laws to, the proposed transactions.
For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated authority.\7\
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\7\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(6) and (9).
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Kevin M. O'Neill,
Deputy Secretary.
FR Doc. 2014-24101 Filed 10-8-14; 8:45 am
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P
