WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Companies are increasingly taking advantage of securities rules that lets them raise capital without having to go through costly registrations, according to a new study by regulators.
The Securities and Exchange Commission study found that these private offerings surpassed debt offerings in 2010 and continued to do so through the first quarter of this year.
The study also found that the spike in private offerings came as public issuances fell by 11 percent from 2009 to 2010.
"To me, it is similar to other types of financial innovations," SEC Chief Economist Craig Lewis told Reuters on the sidelines of the SEC's first-ever small business advisory committee meeting.
"Once people understand this is another path for obtaining equity capital, firms will consider it as another choice to make at the time they need capital."
The agency released the study as part of its review to determine whether it should pursue less restrictive capital-raising securities regulations.
The SEC has said it is looking at whether its rules are outdated. Lawmakers are also pressuring the SEC to remove hurdles for capital formation, to help create jobs.
The trend toward private offerings comes as Europe's debt crisis and a weak U.S. economic recovery have made it difficult or less desirable for companies to pursue public offerings.
The study by SEC economists looked at various exemptions available for private offerings, including the most popular one known as Regulation D's rule 506.
The Reg D rule 506 allows companies to raise an unlimited amount of capital through unregistered offerings as long as the offerings only go to certain sophisticated investors.
Overall, it found that there has been a shift from public to private capital, with private issuances increasing 42 percent to $1.4 billion from 2009 to 2010.
During that time, public equity offerings rose slightly while public debt offerings decreased.
"Historically, debt offerings have been the dominant source of capital that firms have used," said Lewis, who called the study's findings "surprising."
The study also found that foreign companies are taking advantage of private unregistered securities offerings in the United States, showing that the United States is competing favorably with foreign markets.
For the period in the study, foreign issuers accounted for 25 percent of the capital raised. The total capital raised by foreign companies went up by roughly a third between 2009 and 2010.
"There has been some discussion about U.S. issuers...moving to foreign capital markets to raise money, but what we are finding here is there is significant participation on the part of foreign issuers in U.S. capital markets through this Regulation D exemption process," said Lewis, who also serves as the director of the SEC's Risk Strategy and Financial Innovation Division.
MOSCOW ? A Russian cargo ship was launched successfully to the International Space Station on Sunday, clearing the way for the next manned mission and easing concerns about the station's future after a previous failed launch.
The unmanned Progress M-13M blasted off as scheduled at 2:11 p.m. Moscow time (1011 GMT; 6:11 a.m. EDT) from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said.
"It was a perfect launch," Lyndin told The Associated Press, adding the ship successfully reached a designated orbit and will dock at the station Wednesday. A new crew will be launched to the space outpost on Nov. 14, he said.
A Progress launch failure in August, which was blamed on an "accidental" manufacturing flaw, cast doubts about future missions to the station, because the upper stage of the Soyuz booster rocket carrying the cargo ship to orbit is similar to that used to launch astronauts.
The next Soyuz launches were delayed pending the outcome of the probe. NASA said the space station ? continuously manned for nearly 11 years ? will need to be abandoned temporarily if a new crew cannot be launched by mid-November.
NASA space operations chief Bill Gerstenmaier congratulated Russia on the successful Progress launch.
"Pending the outcome of a series of flight readiness meetings in the coming weeks, this successful flight sets the stage for the next Soyuz launch, planned for mid-November," Gerstenmaier said in a statement. The station's crew, which has been reduced to three astronauts after the failed launch in August, will be restored to six in December when another trio of astronauts will be sent, he added.
The Russian spacecraft serve as the only link to the station after NASA retired the space shuttle in July.
Sundays' Progress mission was the second successful launch of a Soyuz booster rocket after the August mishap. Earlier this month, another Soyuz rocket launched the first two satellites of the European Union's Galileo navigation system from the Kourou launchpad in French Guiana. The launches followed inspections, which required the rocket engines to be sent back to manufacturers for close examination.
The August crash was the latest in a string of spectacular launch failures that have raised concerns about the condition of the nation's space industries. The Russian space agency said it will establish its own quality inspection teams at rocket factories to tighten oversight over production quality.
Just give Julius a little loving and he'll be your friend forever! He loves people, petting and attention. And if you happen to have any toys, catnip or food for him, he'll love you even more! It's hard to understand how anyone could abandon such a sweet, affectionate cat. But they did.
Born in 2009, Julius is an adorable boy who would make a wonderful lap cat. In good health, he also has an active, playful side and would like to live in an engaging home. Julius enjoys all kinds of cat toys and taking leash walks. This close to purr-fect kitty is also fine with other cats and loves kids!
If you're looking for an all-around great cat, Julius would love to join your family!
HAROLD
Harold loves people! Especially those who take the time to help him get over his shyness with them. When you first meet this dog, he seems so timid and reserved. But all he wants is a little love and attention. Give him that, and then one day when you greet him, be prepared to receive an armful of happy dog. Harold can't contain his joy over seeing someone he loves -- that's why he jumps up to hug them. But don't worry; he calms down and enjoys quiet affection. And he's smart: he's already learned "sit," "down" and "wait."
Harold is particularly shy around men, and he's also a little too big and excitable for a home with small children. But with big kids and adults, he's fine. Once he knows you, he'll never grow tired of treating you like you're the best thing to come along since dog treats. He's mostly good with other dogs, though a little choosy about who he calls a doggie friend. Harold has been patiently waiting for a home since 2003 and would love it if you gave him a call.
Best Friends adopts to all of the United States and Canada. If you would like to adopt Julius the cat or Harold the dog, please contact Best Friends Animal Society right here. And please tell them Ellen sent you!
See all the animals that need homes... at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) ? Nearly a decade ago, a suburban Kansas City man desperately searching for his teenage daughter's killer divined an idea: Place a "wanted" poster with the suspect's picture on a billboard.
A year later Leawood, Kan., resident Roger Kemp got his wish and investigators got their man. Two anonymous tipsters who had seen the Kansas City billboards recognized the photo and contacted police.
Today, law enforcement agencies nationwide say billboards ? especially digital ones ? have become a valuable tool in their high-tech crime-fighting arsenal. This week, more than a dozen electronic billboards began flashing pictures of little Lisa Irwin, the missing Kansas City baby who was 10 months old when her parents reported her missing Oct. 4.
Kansas City police said Friday they had pursued 934 of the 1,059 tips they've received, but still have no solid leads. Hundreds of investigators have combed wooded and other areas but each search has come up empty, they said.
Lamar Advertising Co. has put Lisa's picture, a phone number and information about a $100,000 reward on its 15 electronic billboards in the Kansas City metropolitan area as a public service, CEO Bob Fessler said.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has a deal with digital billboard operators nationwide in which the organization can override the messages on the signs and replace them with Amber Alerts whenever they're issued. That happened on the day Lisa disappeared.
The FBI credits digital billboards with helping nab 45 fugitives since pictures were first put on the signs. The Outdoor Advertising Association of America Inc. estimates the FBI will use roughly 40 million donated billboard slots in 2011, each lasting eight seconds.
Ken Kline, vice president with the Outdoor Advertising Association, said that since so many agencies ? local police, FBI, U.S. Marshal's Service and others ? are using the billboards to catch fugitives, there's no way to quantify how many people have been apprehended through their use. He said a "national estimate of multiple hundreds would be conservative."
But acceptance of digital billboards is not universal. Kansas City has a moratorium in place restricting new billboards, and cities nationwide are grappling with an issue some feel is destroying the beauty of their neighborhoods and countryside while also distracting drivers.
"We receive a lot of complaints from individuals who live in neighborhoods, and motorists who are concerned about the additional distractions and dangers billboards pose," said John Regenbogen, executive director of Scenic Missouri, which touts billboard control as one of its top issues. "When digital billboards come into a community, they're often met with outcry from residents."
They also keep missing children in the public eye. Fessler said his company, which donated those first billboards for Kemp's campaign in 2003, wanted to help gather tips in Lisa Irwin's search by keeping her image displayed on the billboards.
"After the Kemp case, we got a lot of phone calls about anything from missing people to cold cases," Fessler said. "We treat it as a public service. We don't charge for it."
Fessler's company has been embroiled in a multi-year dispute with Kansas City over electronic billboards after the city banned them in 2007. The city now has a moratorium that allows the handful of digital billboards to remain, but places strict restrictions on new signs.
Carol Winterowd, who has been active in the fight against billboard proliferation in Kansas City, said there are several alternatives for getting information out.
"We have more (billboards) than we need," she said, adding that posting pictures of criminals and Amber Alerts is fine, while also claiming electronic billboards can be a safety hazard. "Attention should be on the road, not looking at billboards."
Kemp's daughter, Ali, was 19 when she was found raped and murdered June 2002 at a Leawood, Kan., swimming pool where she worked. After Kemp found Ali's body, he relentlessly pursued her killer.
He said he was driving down the highway when the billboard idea hit him. He approached Lamar Advertising about buying a billboard ad, but the company instead donated space for several.
About 16 months later, two people who recognized the person on the billboard contacted police and led them to Benjamin Appleby, a former pool cleaner who had moved to Connecticut and was living under an assumed name. Appleby confessed and eventually was convicted of capital murder.
Kemp doesn't like talking about his daughter's murder ? as his suddenly shaky voice and glassy eyes attest ? and he refers to Appleby only as "that predator." He talks about it, he said, only because sharing Ali's story might help avoid a similar tragedy.
"... It takes a lot out of me," Kemp said. "But I want these predators off the street. If they get away with it, they escalate it. They think they can just get away with stuff. We've got to get them off the street. We cannot tolerate it."
After Appleby's capture, Kemp spread the word about how the billboard ads helped bring his daughter's killer to justice. He has spoken to groups across the country and recently was in Washington to receive the 2011 Presidential Citizens Medal from President Barack Obama for his work with The Ali Kemp Defense Education Foundation, or TAKE, which trains women to fight off attackers.
"Roger Kemp was a key catalyst of the modern application of the 'wanted' billboard," Kline said. "He basically revived an old idea and made it better. In essence he said, if this worked in Ali's case, it could work in other cases. And indeed, it has."
Patients who had a transient ischaemic attack (TIA), sometimes referred to as a "mini stroke", were much less likely to experience further vascular events in the first year if their care was co-ordinated by a special hospital team. That is the key finding from a study published in the November issue of the European Journal of Neurology.
Researchers from the Department of Neurology at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark studied 306 patients admitted to the hospital with a TIA. They found that when the patients were treated by an acute TIA team their cumulated risk of having a stroke in the first seven days was 65% lower than expected. The cumulated risk in the first 90 days fell by 74%.
"The aim of our study was to see if patients had better clinical outcomes if they were under the care of a special team, which integrated outpatient care and stroke unit facilities and provided on-going nurse-led counselling" says lead author Dr Paul von Weitzel-Mudersbach.
"TIA, which is caused by a temporary lack of blood to part of the brain, is a serious condition associated with a high short-term risk of ischaemic stroke. Previous research has shown that the cumulated stroke risk in the first three months after a TIA is ten to 12% in unselected patients and more than 30% in patients with carotid stenosis, a dangerous narrowing of the largest blood vessels that deliver blood to the brain.
"Although urgent intervention has been shown to reduce the risk of stroke, a number of previous studies have shown poor long-term drug compliance in many patients."
The patients were referred directly to the acute TIA team by their family doctor or ambulance, bypassing the emergency department. Patients who had suffered a TIA in the last 48 hours, and those with multiple TIA, faced a high risk of stroke and were admitted to the stroke unit. This offered the option for immediate preventative action, including thrombolysis drugs, to break up blood clots in the case of recurrent stroke. The other patients were seen in the outpatients department within three days of referral.
All the patients seen by the team received acute treatment with antithrombotic and cholesterol lowering drugs and were offered fast-track surgery if they had carotid stenosis. Follow-up included nurse-conducted health counselling after seven, 90 and 365 days. Each contact included the importance of secondary prevention, such as drug compliance and stopping smoking.
Key findings of the study included:
Just under two-thirds of the patients were admitted immediately after their TIA (65%) with the rest being seen as outpatients. Inpatient stays averaged one day.
Over half (58%) were seen within 24 hours of their TIA and 70% within 24 hours of the call for attention. The figures at one week were 76% and 89% respectively.
Just over 5% had a stroke, non-fatal heart attack or died from a vascular event within a year of their TIA.
The cumulated stroke risk was calculated and compared with the ABCD2 score, an established method of identifying individuals with a high early risk of stroke after a TIA. The actual scores in the Aarhus study were 1.6% and 2% after seven and 90 days, significantly lower than the ABCD2 predicted stroke scores of 4.5% and 7.5%.
Early surgery to remove the build up of plaque in the carotid blood vessels was performed in 8.5% of patients. However, the authors believe this only played a minor role in the reduced risk.
The majority of the patients (95%) fulfilled at least one secondary prevention measure: reduced blood pressure, reduced cholesterol, no smoking and self-reported adherence to antithrombotic treatment. 48% achieved three out of the four targets.
Most of the patients (93%) adhered to their antithrombotic treatment.
More than 60% of the patients who smoked at the time of their TIA changed their smoking habits - 31% quit and 29.5% reduced their smoking by at least 50%. Most of the changes happened in the first seven days.
"Our study shows that urgent treatment of patients with TIA is feasible and associated with a substantial reduction in stroke risk during the first three months, which is consistent with previous studies from the UK and France" says Dr von Weitzel-Mudersbach.
"We believe that early and aggressive antithrombotic treatment may play a major role in the reduction of short-term stroke risk in most patients. Meanwhile, the combination of secondary prevention efforts with a relatively high compliance rate - including the essential telephone follow-up provided by a specially trained nurse in the first three months - was probably responsible for the low long-term risk of adverse clinical outcome.
"Treating TIA by deploying a specialist team that can admit patients when the risk of recurrent symptoms is highest and prompt thrombolysis can be used, combined with nurse-conducted health counselling, seems to be effective."
###
Notes to editors
Low risk of vascular events following urgent treatment of transient ischaemic attack: the Aarhus TIA study. Weitzel-Mudersbach et al. European Journal of Neurology. 18, pp1285. (November 2011). doi:10.1111/j.1468-1331.2011.03452.x
The European Journal of Neurology covers all areas of clinical and basic research in neurology, including pre-clinical research of immediate translational value for new potential treatments. Emphasis is placed on major diseases or large clinical and socio-economic importance (dementia, stroke, epilepsy, headache, multiple sclerosis, movement disorders, and infectious diseases).?The journal provides a forum for European activity in clinical neuroscience and medical practice and helps strengthen the links between research workers and clinicians in Europe and other parts of the world. The journal also publishes the official EFNS taskforce papers. http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ENE
Wiley-Blackwell is the international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons, with strengths in every major academic and professional field and partnerships with many of the world's leading societies. Wiley-Blackwell publishes nearly 1,500 peer-reviewed journals and 1,500+ new books annually in print and online, as well as databases, major reference works and laboratory protocols. For more information, please visit http://www.wileyblackwell.com or our new online platform, Wiley Online Library (http://www.wileyonlinelibrary.com), one of the world's most extensive multidisciplinary collections of online resources, covering life, health, social and physical sciences, and humanities.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Hospital team significantly reduced risk of further vascular events after 'mini strokes' Public release date: 27-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Patients who had a transient ischaemic attack (TIA), sometimes referred to as a "mini stroke", were much less likely to experience further vascular events in the first year if their care was co-ordinated by a special hospital team. That is the key finding from a study published in the November issue of the European Journal of Neurology.
Researchers from the Department of Neurology at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark studied 306 patients admitted to the hospital with a TIA. They found that when the patients were treated by an acute TIA team their cumulated risk of having a stroke in the first seven days was 65% lower than expected. The cumulated risk in the first 90 days fell by 74%.
"The aim of our study was to see if patients had better clinical outcomes if they were under the care of a special team, which integrated outpatient care and stroke unit facilities and provided on-going nurse-led counselling" says lead author Dr Paul von Weitzel-Mudersbach.
"TIA, which is caused by a temporary lack of blood to part of the brain, is a serious condition associated with a high short-term risk of ischaemic stroke. Previous research has shown that the cumulated stroke risk in the first three months after a TIA is ten to 12% in unselected patients and more than 30% in patients with carotid stenosis, a dangerous narrowing of the largest blood vessels that deliver blood to the brain.
"Although urgent intervention has been shown to reduce the risk of stroke, a number of previous studies have shown poor long-term drug compliance in many patients."
The patients were referred directly to the acute TIA team by their family doctor or ambulance, bypassing the emergency department. Patients who had suffered a TIA in the last 48 hours, and those with multiple TIA, faced a high risk of stroke and were admitted to the stroke unit. This offered the option for immediate preventative action, including thrombolysis drugs, to break up blood clots in the case of recurrent stroke. The other patients were seen in the outpatients department within three days of referral.
All the patients seen by the team received acute treatment with antithrombotic and cholesterol lowering drugs and were offered fast-track surgery if they had carotid stenosis. Follow-up included nurse-conducted health counselling after seven, 90 and 365 days. Each contact included the importance of secondary prevention, such as drug compliance and stopping smoking.
Key findings of the study included:
Just under two-thirds of the patients were admitted immediately after their TIA (65%) with the rest being seen as outpatients. Inpatient stays averaged one day.
Over half (58%) were seen within 24 hours of their TIA and 70% within 24 hours of the call for attention. The figures at one week were 76% and 89% respectively.
Just over 5% had a stroke, non-fatal heart attack or died from a vascular event within a year of their TIA.
The cumulated stroke risk was calculated and compared with the ABCD2 score, an established method of identifying individuals with a high early risk of stroke after a TIA. The actual scores in the Aarhus study were 1.6% and 2% after seven and 90 days, significantly lower than the ABCD2 predicted stroke scores of 4.5% and 7.5%.
Early surgery to remove the build up of plaque in the carotid blood vessels was performed in 8.5% of patients. However, the authors believe this only played a minor role in the reduced risk.
The majority of the patients (95%) fulfilled at least one secondary prevention measure: reduced blood pressure, reduced cholesterol, no smoking and self-reported adherence to antithrombotic treatment. 48% achieved three out of the four targets.
Most of the patients (93%) adhered to their antithrombotic treatment.
More than 60% of the patients who smoked at the time of their TIA changed their smoking habits - 31% quit and 29.5% reduced their smoking by at least 50%. Most of the changes happened in the first seven days.
"Our study shows that urgent treatment of patients with TIA is feasible and associated with a substantial reduction in stroke risk during the first three months, which is consistent with previous studies from the UK and France" says Dr von Weitzel-Mudersbach.
"We believe that early and aggressive antithrombotic treatment may play a major role in the reduction of short-term stroke risk in most patients. Meanwhile, the combination of secondary prevention efforts with a relatively high compliance rate - including the essential telephone follow-up provided by a specially trained nurse in the first three months - was probably responsible for the low long-term risk of adverse clinical outcome.
"Treating TIA by deploying a specialist team that can admit patients when the risk of recurrent symptoms is highest and prompt thrombolysis can be used, combined with nurse-conducted health counselling, seems to be effective."
###
Notes to editors
Low risk of vascular events following urgent treatment of transient ischaemic attack: the Aarhus TIA study. Weitzel-Mudersbach et al. European Journal of Neurology. 18, pp1285. (November 2011). doi:10.1111/j.1468-1331.2011.03452.x
The European Journal of Neurology covers all areas of clinical and basic research in neurology, including pre-clinical research of immediate translational value for new potential treatments. Emphasis is placed on major diseases or large clinical and socio-economic importance (dementia, stroke, epilepsy, headache, multiple sclerosis, movement disorders, and infectious diseases).?The journal provides a forum for European activity in clinical neuroscience and medical practice and helps strengthen the links between research workers and clinicians in Europe and other parts of the world. The journal also publishes the official EFNS taskforce papers. http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ENE
Wiley-Blackwell is the international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons, with strengths in every major academic and professional field and partnerships with many of the world's leading societies. Wiley-Blackwell publishes nearly 1,500 peer-reviewed journals and 1,500+ new books annually in print and online, as well as databases, major reference works and laboratory protocols. For more information, please visit http://www.wileyblackwell.com or our new online platform, Wiley Online Library (http://www.wileyonlinelibrary.com), one of the world's most extensive multidisciplinary collections of online resources, covering life, health, social and physical sciences, and humanities.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Public release date: 27-Oct-2011
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