13 CFR Part 107 - SMALL BUSINESS INVESTMENT COMPANIES

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is amending its regulations to adjust for inflation the amount of certain civil monetary penalties that are within the jurisdiction of the agency. These adjustments comply with the requirement in the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, to make annual adjustments to the penalties.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is revising its regulations to increase the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) licensing and examination fees. The Small Business Investment Act of 1958, as amended, allows SBA to collect licensing and examination fees to offset SBA's costs associated with the administration of these two activities. SBA last increased fees for SBICs in 1996. Current fees offset less than 40% of SBA's administrative expenses related to these activities. This final rule increases SBIC licensing and examination fees in annual steps through October 2020, at which time SBA estimates that the annual fees will recoup approximately 80% of SBA's annual expenses directly related to these activities. Beginning in October 2021, this rule increases licensing and examination fees annually based on inflation.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is withdrawing the final rule concerning Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) investments in passive businesses that was published on December 28, 2016, and is replacing it with this final rule. This final rule expands SBIC permitted investments in passive businesses and includes new reporting and other requirements for passive investments. This rule also makes a few minor technical amendments.

On December 28, 2016, the Small Business Administration (SBA) published a final rule to expand permitted investments in passive businesses and provide further clarification with regard to investments in such businesses for the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) Program, with an effective date of January 27, 2017. On January 26, 2017, SBA published a notification delaying the effective date until March 21, 2017 and re-opened the rule for additional public comment. On March 21, 2017, SBA published another notification to delay the effective date of this rule until May 20, 2017, to give the new administration time to further consider the rule. After reviewing the final rule, SBA is considering removing the provision that would allow SBICs to use a blocker corporation under its regulations if an investor of an SBIC has elected to be taxed as a regulated investment company (RIC) and a direct investment into the operating company would cause the investor to receive or be deemed to receive income that would jeopardize its RIC status. SBA is seeking additional comments regarding the removal of this provision. In order to give the public time to provide comments and for SBA to review those comments, the effective date of the final rule is delayed until August 18, 2017.

On December 28, 2016, the Small Business Administration (SBA) published a final rule to expand permitted investments in passive businesses and provide further clarification with regard to investments in such businesses for the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) Program, with an effective date of January 27, 2017. On January 26, 2017, SBA published a delay of effective date until March 21, 2017 and re-opened the rule for additional public comment in response to the memorandum dated January 20, 2017 from the Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, entitled “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review.” SBA requires additional time to consider this final rule and determine whether any further changes are required; therefore, the effective date for this final rule is delayed until May 20, 2017. Any changes to the final rule based on this redetermination will be published in the Federal Register .

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is amending its regulations to adjust for inflation the amount of certain civil monetary penalties that are within the jurisdiction of the agency. These adjustments comply with the requirement in the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, to make annual adjustments to the penalties.

On December 28, 2016, the Small Business Administration (SBA) published a final rule to expand permitted investments in passive businesses and provide further clarification with regard to investments in such businesses for the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) Program, with an effective date of January 27, 2017. In the meantime, a memorandum dated January 20, 2017 from the Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, entitled “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review” calls for agencies to temporarily postpone the effective date of rules not yet effective and invite new public comment. In view of this development, SBA is delaying the effective date of this rule until March 21, 2017, and is inviting additional public comment on the final rule. Any timely public comments received will be considered and any changes to the final rule will be published in the Federal Register .

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is revising the regulations for the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program to expand permitted investments in passive businesses and provide further clarification with regard to investments in such businesses. SBICs are generally prohibited from investing in passive businesses under the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, as amended (Act). SBIC program regulations provide for two exceptions that allow an SBIC to structure an investment utilizing a passive small business as a pass-through. The first exception provides conditions under which an SBIC may structure an investment through up to two levels of passive entities to make an investment in a non-passive business that is a subsidiary of the passive business directly financed by the SBIC. The second exception, prior to this final rule, enabled a partnership SBIC, with SBA's prior approval, to provide financing to a small business through a passive, wholly-owned C corporation (commonly known as a blocker corporation), but only if a direct financing would cause the SBIC's investors to incur Unrelated Business Taxable Income (UBTI). This final rule clarifies several aspects of the first exception and in the second exception eliminates the prior approval requirement and expands the purposes for which a blocker corporation may be formed. The final rule also adds new reporting and other requirements for passive investments to help protect SBA's financial interests and ensure adequate oversight and makes minor technical amendments. Finally, this rule makes a conforming change to the regulations regarding the amount of leverage available to SBICs under common control. This change is necessary for consistency with the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, which increased the maximum amount of such leverage to $350 million.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) proposes to increase the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) licensing and examination fees. The Small Business Investment Act of 1958, as amended, allows SBA to collect licensing and examination fees to offset SBA's costs associated with the administration of these two activities. SBA last increased fees for SBICs in 1996. Current fees offset less than 40% of SBA's administrative expenses related to these activities. The proposed rule would revise existing regulations to increase, over a five-year period, SBIC licensing and examination fees in order to annually recoup an estimated 70% of SBA administrative expenses related to these activities. After the five year period, the rule proposes annual increases of these fees based on inflation. To encourage investment into underserved areas, the proposed rule would establish certain examination fee discounts for SBICs that make significant low and moderate income (LMI) investments.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announces that it is holding a public webinar regarding its Early Stage Small Business Investment Companies proposed rule, which was published on September 19, 2016. The webinar will describe the changes proposed in the rulemaking and answer questions regarding the proposed rule.

In this proposed rule, SBA is making changes to its Early Stage Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) initiative, which was launched in 2012 as a 5-year effort as part of President Obama's Startup America Initiative. The intent of the initiative was to license and provide SBA-guaranteed leverage to Early Stage SBICs that would focus on making investments in early stage small businesses. Although 62 investment funds applied to the program, few satisfied SBA's licensing criteria. To date, SBA has only licensed five Early Stage SBICs. In an attempt to attract more qualified early stage fund managers, this rule proposes changes to the initiative with respect to licensing, non-SBA borrowing, and leverage eligibility. These proposed changes are based in part on feedback SBA received on an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) that was published in March 2015. In addition, this rule reflects SBA's intention to continue licensing and providing SBA-guaranteed leverage to Early Stage SBICs beyond the 5-year term of the initiative, and proposes certain technical changes to SBA's Early Stage regulations.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is amending its regulations to adjust for inflation the amount of certain civil monetary penalty that is within the jurisdiction of the agency. This adjustment is required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. This rule also makes technical amendments to the regulations governing misrepresentations in SBA contracting programs to add a cross reference to the regulation that contains the applicable penalty amounts for misrepresentations and to correct a citation in the same regulations. Finally, the rule makes a technical amendment to an existing regulation governing small business investment companies to add a cross reference to a new civil penalty provision.

In this proposed rule, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is defining a new class of small business investment companies (SBICs) that will seek to generate positive and measurable social impact in addition to financial return. With the creation of this class of “Impact SBICs,” SBA is seeking to expand the pool of investment capital available primarily to underserved communities and innovative sectors as well as support the development of America's growing impact investing industry. This proposed rule sets forth regulations applicable to Impact SBICs with respect to licensing, leverage eligibility, fees, reporting and compliance requirements.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) proposes to revise the regulations for the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program to expand the use of Passive Businesses and provide further clarification with regard to investments in such businesses. SBICs are generally prohibited from investing in passive businesses under the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, as amended (Act). SBIC program regulations provide for two exceptions that allow an SBIC to structure an investment utilizing a passive small business as a pass-through. The first exception provides conditions under which an SBIC may structure an investment through up to two levels of passive entities to make an investment in a non-passive business that is a subsidiary of the passive business directly financed by the SBIC. The second exception enables a partnership SBIC, with SBA's prior approval, to provide financing to a small business through a passive, wholly-owned C corporation, but only if a direct financing would cause the SBIC's investors to incur Unrelated Business Taxable Income (UBTI). A passive C corporation formed under the second exception is commonly known as a blocker corporation. This proposed rule would clarify the first exception, and would expand the permitted use of blocker corporations and eliminate the prior approval requirement in the second exception. The rule also proposes to add new reporting and other requirements for passive investments to help protect SBA's financial interests and ensure adequate oversight and make minor technical amendments.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is seeking input and comments on its Early Stage Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) initiative, promulgated in the final rule on April 27, 2012. The intent of the initiative was to license and provide SBA leverage to SBICs over a 5-year period (fiscal years 2012 through 2016) that would focus on making investments in early stage small businesses. Although 58 investment funds applied to the program, to date SBA has only licensed 5 Early Stage SBICs. SBA is seeking input from the public to determine whether existing market conditions warrant SBA continuing to license Early Stage SBICs past fiscal year 2016 on an ongoing basis and, if so, what changes should be made to the program to attract qualified early stage fund managers.

In this final rule, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is revising the regulations for the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program concerning investments in passive businesses. SBICs are generally prohibited from investing in passive businesses under the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, as amended, as well as under SBIC program regulations. This final rule modifies an exception that allows an SBIC to make an investment in a passive small business that passes through the investment proceeds to one or more subsidiaries, each of which must be a non-passive small business. This modification allows an SBIC to structure an investment utilizing two levels of passive small businesses as pass-through entities under specific circumstances. The purpose of the modification is to place SBICs on a more equal footing with their non-SBIC counterparts in the venture capital and private equity sectors, in which investments structured with two passive levels are not uncommon. This final rule also includes several technical corrections. Specifically, the final rule updates the regulations by replacing obsolete Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes with their equivalents under the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS); corrects erroneous paragraph cross-references; and modernizes the options for meeting the record preservation requirements by removing the reference to “microfilm.”

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) proposes to revise the regulations for the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program concerning investments in passive businesses. SBICs are generally prohibited from investing in passive businesses under the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, as amended, as well as under SBIC program regulations. Currently these program regulations provide for exceptions that allow an SBIC to structure an investment utilizing a passive small business as a pass-through under certain limited circumstances. One such exception provides that an SBIC may make an investment in a passive small business that passes through the investment proceeds to one or more subsidiaries, each of which must be a non-passive small business. The proposed rule would modify this exception to allow an SBIC to structure an investment utilizing two passive small businesses as pass-through entities. This modification would place SBICs on an equal footing with their non-SBIC counterparts in the venture capital and private equity sectors, in which investments structured with two passive levels, are not uncommon. This proposed rule also includes several technical corrections. Specifically, the proposed rule would update the regulations by replacing obsolete Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes with their equivalents under the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS); correct erroneous paragraph cross-references; and modernize the options for meeting the record preservation requirements by removing the reference to “microfilm.”

In this final rule, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is defining a new sub-category of small business investment companies (SBICs) which will focus on making equity investments in early stage small businesses. By licensing and providing SBA leverage to these “Early Stage SBICs,” SBA seeks to expand entrepreneurs' access to capital and encourage innovation as part of President Obama's Start-Up America Initiative launched on January 31, 2011. This final rule also sets forth regulations applicable to Early Stage SBICs with respect to licensing, capital requirements, non-SBA borrowing, examination fees, leverage eligibility, distributions, and capital impairment. In addition, the final rule makes certain technical changes to the SBIC regulations.

In this rule, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) sets forth defined terms for “Energy Saving Qualified Investment” and “Energy Saving Activities” for the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) Program. These definitions are established to implement a provision of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Energy Act), which allows an SBIC making an “energy saving qualified investment” to obtain SBA leverage by issuing a deferred interest “energy saving debenture”. This rule also implements a provision of the Energy Act that provides access to additional SBA leverage for SBICs that have made Energy Saving Qualified Investments in Smaller Enterprises. This final rule includes changes based on public comments received on the proposed rule published in the Federal Register on January 11, 2011. Generally, the changes allow a broader range of potential investments to qualify as Energy Saving Qualified Investments and reduce the need for SBICs to obtain pre-financing determinations of eligibility from SBA.