S.E.C. Lets All Firms Keep Parts of I.P.O. Filings Secret
At his confirmation hearing in March, Mr. Clayton — who as a longtime lawyer at the Wall Street law firm Sullivan & Cromwell worked on a number of initial public offerings, including Alibaba’s and Och-Ziff Capital Management’s — emphasized
that he would “like to see more companies going public here.”
He and Republican lawmakers have pointed to regulation as a prime culprit for the shrunken universe in American stocks.
Renaissance Capital noted on Thursday that 54 initial offerings raised $11 billion
in the second quarter — the most in number and proceeds in two years.
“We are striving for efficiency in our processes to encourage more companies to consider going public, which can result in more choices for investors, job creation
and a stronger U. S. economy,” Mr. Clayton said on Thursday.
Mutual funds and other big investors tend to prefer bigger investments to many small investments in new company offerings and the like.
The Nasdaq stock market, which competes with the New York Stock Exchange for the listings of new companies, cheered the S. E.C.’s decision.