Below, my preliminary notes from the LSTA’s 16th Annual Conference on November 2, 2011.
4:47 PM
Breakout session on Material Non-public Information in the Syndicated Loan Market. Best practices are under pressure due to occurrences in the market, including especially the desire for increased transparency. History of LSTA involvement on MNPI. Sophisticated party expectation of unequal information of parties trading loans. Syndicate Level Information discussed. Sources of authority: state asset protection rules, federal securities laws. Big boy provisions as “contractual disclaimers of reliance” that operate by reverse engineering a fraud claim. Limits on effectiveness of same: securities transactions (SEC not require to prove reliance); prohibition against circumventing securities laws; ineffectiveness against breach of fiduciary duty claims unaffected by CDRs; “blockbuster” information (read, Borrower Restricted Information on material issues) arguably unprotectable.