Accredited Investors
Under the Securities Act of 1933, a company
that offers or sells its securities must register the securities with
the SEC or find an exemption from the registration requirements. The Act
provides companies with a number of exemptions. For some of the
exemptions, such as rules 505 and 506 of Regulation D, a company may
sell its securities to what are known as "accredited investors."
The federal securities laws define the term
accredited investor in Rule 501 of Regulation D as:
- a bank, insurance company, registered
investment company, business development company, or small business
investment company;
- an employee benefit plan, within the
meaning of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, if a bank,
insurance company, or registered investment adviser makes the
investment decisions, or if the plan has total assets in excess of $5
million;
- a charitable organization, corporation,
or partnership with assets exceeding $5 million;
- a director, executive officer, or general
partner of the company selling the securities;
- a business in which all the equity owners
are accredited investors;
- a natural person who has individual net
worth, or joint net worth with the person’s spouse, that exceeds $1
million at the time of the purchase;
- a natural person with income exceeding
$200,000 in each of the two most recent years or joint income with a
spouse exceeding $300,000 for those years and a reasonable expectation
of the same income level in the current year; or
- a trust with assets in excess of $5
million, not formed to acquire the securities offered, whose purchases
a sophisticated person makes.
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