Form F-1 is the standard registration statement filed on the SEC EDGAR system by foreign private issuers (certain non-US companies) to register additional securities and by private companies seeking to go public through an IPO (Initial Public Offering). The F-1 contains information about the business — financial statements, management, risk factors, etc — specific to the securities offering. Also known as a prospectus, the information in the form allows investors to consider the merits of the offering and make an educated investment decision.
Form F-1 is filed on the SEC EDGAR system in HTML format. The SEC only accepts a simplified version of HTML, requiring the source documents to be converted using specialized SEC EDGAR software (as opposed to simply using the "Save as HTML" option in a word processor). Form F-1 also requires the filing entity to be registered with the SEC EDGAR system and have valid EDGAR filing codes, and pay a fee based on the number and offering price of the shares being registered.
According to pages 65 – 70 of the official XBRL rule, XBRL is not required in an F-1 used to register securities in conjunction with an IPO. Form F-1s not being used as part of an IPO however, require an XBRL component if the financial statements are reported in US GAAP.
Our team regularly works with companies and their legal counsel with respect to Form F-1; we consider it one of our specialties. Our team will proactively assist you in ensuring you have the necessary filing codes to submit the filing and have a plan to pay the required registration fee. We will convert the original material received from you to SEC EDGAR HTML format, and provide you and your team with an online proof. After obtaining your approval, we file the Form F-1 with the SEC EDGAR system.
The process of filing and having an F-1 approved by the SEC can take anywhere from two months to a year. Our team is available throughout this process to prepare and submit subsequent amendments, redlines, and correspondence letters.
Contact us to learn how our Form F-1 filing service can work for you.
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