The SEC announced that beginning on July 10, 2017 it will accept voluntary draft registration statement submissions from all issuers for nonpublic review. The SEC believes this will facilitate capital formation.
The catch is the SEC will limit its nonpublic review in these cases to the initial submission. An issuer responding to staff comments on a draft registration statement must do so with a public filing, not with a revised draft registration statement.
The SEC will not delay processing of a confidential registration statement if an issuer reasonably believes omitted financial information will not be required at the time the registration statement is publicly filed.