Additional Information: Pink Sheets LLC 304 Hudson Street, 2nd Floor New York, NY 10013 212-896-4420 Liz Heese, Issuer Services
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Pink Sheets revises Policy for Publishing Unsolicited Quotes
New York, NY, November 9,2005 -- Pink Sheets has made a change to its policy regarding the publication of unsolicited quotes. Effective immediately, Pink Sheets will not permit the entry of an unsolicited quote under condition #6 of Question 16 on the Unsolicited Quote Entry Form, unless the broker requesting to publish the unsolicited quote has concurrently submitted a Form 211 to the NASD in the same issue. We will not require that the Form 211 be cleared by the NASD prior to publishing an unsolicited quote. However, the broker submitting the Form 211 must inform Pink Sheets if the Form 211 is withdrawn or rejected by the NASD and the reasons for this action. If a pattern emerges where a significant amount of Form 211s submitted to the NASD by an individual firm are withdrawn or rejected, Pink Sheets may refuse to permit any further unsolicited quote entry by that firm.
Pink Sheets will apply this new standard to all new requests to enter an unsolicited quote. The Unsolicited Quote Entry Form has been modified to require the submitting broker to verify that they have submitted a Form 211 to the NASD and will require the broker to attach a copy of the Form 211 (not including the supporting documentation).
Too often brokers are submitting Unsolicited Quote Entry Forms for issuers where the disclosure is incomplete, shoddy or inadequate. This places Pink Sheets in the position of reviewing and rejecting applications that should have been done properly or not submitted by the broker. It is not a position we want or are equipped to be in. We hope that by concurrently submitting their applications to the NASD, brokers will meet a higher standard.
Filing Form 211’s with the NASD will improve Pink Sheets trading because allowing market makers to display proprietary quotations creates more liquid, efficient and competitive secondary trading with decreased volatility. All of which are clearly beneficial to issuers and investors. There have been some concerns voiced by issuers that being quoted only on an unsolicited basis protects their stock from naked market maker short selling, however the new NASD rule proposal to collect and publish short positions in OTCBB and Pink Sheets securities (http://www.smartpdf.com/register/2005/Nov/03/66875A.pdf) should alleviate these concerns by allowing issuers and investors to easily identify any short selling activity in individual securities.
Please contact Liz Heese at info@pinksheets.com if you have any questions or comments regarding these policies.