Produits dérivés et divulgation: les commentaires de l'OSC

L'OSC a publié le Staff Notice 51-706 où le personnel de sa Corporate Finance Branch fait état de ses préoccupations relativement aux problèmes de transparence associés aux produits dérivés, notamment en ce qui concerne les déclarations d'initiés et les déclarations en vertu du système d'alerte. Publié en septembre, cet avis fait écho aux préoccupations formulées par le régulateur allemand dans la foulée des événements concernant Porshe et Volkswagen dont nous avons fait état récemment.

Dans cet avis, le personnel note:

In the recent Sears Canada decision, the Commission considered whether a number of hedge funds that had opposed a proposed offer and going private transaction had complied with the early warning requirements. Although the Commission decided that there was no evidence of abusive market behaviour, they concluded that there "might well be situations, in the context of a take-over bid, where the use of swaps to park securities in a deliberate effort to avoid reporting obligations under the Act and for the purpose of affecting an outstanding offer could constitute abusive conduct sufficient to engage the Commission's public interest jurisdiction".

We are aware of a number of recent studies that identify this and similar strategies as having been adopted by sophisticated investors to accumulate substantial economic positions in an issuer without public disclosure. These investors then convert their positions into voting positions at an opportunistic time. As a result, a number of international jurisdictions have introduced additional disclosure-based reforms.

We are presently reviewing a number of issues relating to the potential use of derivatives to avoid early warning requirements and similar securities law requirements based on the concepts of beneficial ownership and control or direction.

Il ne serait donc pas surprenant de voir une proposition réglementaire sous peu. À suivre.