The SEC granted no-action relief to RS Global Natural Resources Fund ("RS Global"), SailingStone Capital Partners LLC ("SailingStone") and RS Investment Management Co. LLC, under Investment Company Act Section 15(a) ("Contracts of Advisers and Underwriters"), provided that RS Investment Management Co. enters into an interim sub-advisory agreement with SailingStone, which has not been approved by the vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of RS Global. Section 15(a) prohibits a person from serving as an investment adviser to a registered investment company except pursuant to a

The SEC granted an exemption to Lloyds Banking Group plc ("LBG"), a public limited company organized under the laws of the United Kingdom and registered in Scotland, from Exchange Act Regulation M Rule 102 ("Activities by Issuers and Selling Security Holders during a Distribution") in connection with a proposed Exchange Offer. On September 16, 2013, the SEC granted LBG an exemption from Rule 102 ("Original Relief") to permit certain LBG affiliates to conduct specified transactions in LBG Ordinary Shares and LBG American Depository Shares ("LBG ADSs"). LBG's recent request for exemptive relief

The SEC published its FY 2015 Budget Justification to Congress, which outlines the SEC's request of $1.7 billion for its FY 2015 budget and includes the FY 2013 annual performance report. The SEC stated that the budget will allow the agency to hire an additional 639 positions to assist in (i) remedying inadequate examination coverage for investment advisers and other key aspects of its jurisdiction; (ii) strengthening its core investigative, litigation and analytical enforcement functions; and (iii) continuing the agency's investments in the technologies needed to keep pace with today's high

The SEC announced a new cooperation initiative out of its Division of Enforcement ("DOE") to encourage the issuers and underwriters of municipal securities to self-report certain violations of the federal securities laws rather than wait for their violations to be detected. Under the new initiative titled the Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation ("MCDC") Initiative, the SEC Enforcement Division will recommend standardized, favorable settlement terms to municipal issuers and underwriters who self-report that they have made inaccurate statements in bond offerings about their prior

The IRS ruled that income received by a publicly traded limited partnership from supplying water used in a fracturing process to produce natural gas, from hydrocarbon remediation and from disposing of flowback, produced water, drilling mud and other production wastes which result from the fracturing processes, is "qualifying income" within the meaning of Section 7704 of the Internal Revenue Code. As a result, such limited partnership is not subject to taxation as a corporation for federal income tax purposes. Under the Code, a partnership is taxed as a corporation if interests in that