14. (a) Subject to the provisions of this section and section 15 of P.L.1967, c.93 (C. 49:3-62) any security may be registered by qualification.

(b) A registration statement under this section shall contain the following information and be accompanied by the following documents:

(1) the information specified in subsection (c) of section 15 of P.L.1967, c.93 (C. 49:3-62);

(2) the consent to service of process required by subsection (a) of section 26 of P.L.1967, c.93 (C. 49:3-73);

(3) with respect to the issuer and any significant subsidiary; its name, address, and form of organization; the State or foreign jurisdiction and date of its organization; the general character and location of its business; a description of its physical properties and equipment; and a statement of the general competitive conditions in the industry or business in which it is or will be engaged;

(4) with respect to every director and officer of the issuer, or person occupying a similar status or performing similar functions: his name, address, and principal occupation for the past five years; the amount of securities of the issuer held by him as of a specified date within 30 days of the filing of the registration statement; the amount of the securities covered by the registration statement to which he has indicated his intention to subscribe; and a description of any material interest in any material transaction with the issuer or any significant subsidiary effected within the past three years or proposed to be effected;

(5) with respect to persons covered by paragraph (4) of this subsection; the remuneration paid during the past 12 months and estimated to be paid during the next 12 months, directly or indirectly, by the issuer (together with all predecessors, parents, subsidiaries, and affiliates) to all those persons in the aggregate;

(6) with respect to any person owning of record, or beneficially if known, 10% or more of the outstanding shares of any class of equity security of the issuer: the information specified in paragraph (4) of this subsection other than his occupation;

(7) with respect to every promoter if the issuer was organized within the past three years: the information specified in paragraph (4) of this subsection, any amount paid to him within the period or intended to be paid to him, and the consideration for any such payment;

(8) with respect to any person on whose behalf any part of the offering is to be made in a nonissuer transaction: his name and address; the amount of securities of the issuer held by him as of the date of the filing of the registration statement; a description of any material interest in any material transaction with the issuer or any significant subsidiary effected within the past three years or proposed to be effected; and a statement of his reasons for making the offering;

(9) the capitalization and long-term debt (on both a current and a pro forma basis) of the issuer and any significant subsidiary, including a description of each security outstanding or being registered or otherwise offered, and a statement of the amount and kind of consideration (whether in the form of cash, physical assets, services, patents, goodwill, or anything else) for which the issuer or any subsidiary has issued any of its securities within the past two years or is obligated to issue any of its securities;

(10) the kind and amount of securities to be offered; the proposed offering price or the method by which it is to be computed; any variation therefrom at which any portion of the offering is to be made to any person or class of persons other than the underwriters, with a specification of any such person or class; the basis upon which the offering is to be made if otherwise than for cash; the estimated aggregate underwriting and selling discounts or commissions and finders’ fees (including separately cash, securities, contracts, or anything else of value to accrue to the underwriters or finders in connection with the offering) or, if the selling discounts or commissions are variable, the basis of determining them and their maximum and minimum amounts; the estimated amounts of other selling expenses, including legal, engineering, and accounting charges; the name and address of every underwriter and every recipient of a finder’s fee; a copy of any underwriting or selling-group agreement pursuant to which the distribution is to be made, or the proposed form of any such agreement whose terms have not yet been determined, and a description of the plan of distribution of any securities which are to be offered otherwise than through an underwriter;

(11) the estimated cash proceeds to be received by the issuer from the offering; the purposes for which the proceeds are to be used by the issuer; the amount to be used for each purpose; the order or priority in which the proceeds will be used for the purposes stated; the amounts of any funds to be raised from other sources to achieve the purposes stated; the sources of any such funds; and, if any part of the proceeds is to be used to acquire any property (including goodwill) otherwise than in the ordinary course of business, the names and addresses of the vendors, the purchase price, the names of any persons who have received commissions in connection with the acquisition, and the amounts of any such commissions and any other expense in connection with the acquisition (including the cost of borrowing money to finance the acquisition);

(12) a description of any stock options or other security options outstanding, or to be created in connection with the offering, together with the amount of any such options held or to be held by every person required to be named in paragraph (4), (6), (7), (8), or (10) of this subsection and by any person who holds or will hold 10% or more in the aggregate of any such options;

(13) the dates of, parties to, and general effect concisely stated of, every management or other contract of material importance made or to be made otherwise than in the ordinary course of business if it is to be performed in whole or in part at or after the filing of the registration statement or was made within the past two years, together with a copy of every such contract; and a description of any pending litigation or proceeding to which the issuer is a party and which materially affects its business or assets (including any such litigation or proceeding known to be contemplated by governmental authorities);

(14) a copy of any prospectus, pamphlet, circular, form letter, advertisement, or other sales literature intended as of the effective date to be used in connection with the offering;

(15) a specimen or copy of the security being registered; a copy of the issuer’s articles of incorporation and bylaws, or their substantial equivalents, as currently in effect; and a copy of any indenture or other instrument covering the security to be registered;

(16) a signed or conformed copy of an opinion of counsel as to the legality of the security being registered (with an English translation if it is in a foreign language), which shall state whether the security when sold will be legally issued, fully paid, and nonassessable, and, if a debt security, a binding obligation of the issuer;

(17) the written consent of any accountant, engineer, appraiser, or other person whose profession gives authority to a statement made by him, if any such person is named as having prepared or certified a report or valuation (other than a public and official document or statement) which is used in connection with the registration statement;

(18) a balance sheet of the issuer as of a date within four months prior to the filing of the registration statement, accompanied by a declaration that there has been no substantial change in the financial position of the issuer since the date of such statement; a profit and loss statement and analysis of surplus for each of the three fiscal years preceding the date of the balance sheet and for any period between the close of the last fiscal year and the date of the balance sheet, or for the period of the issuer’s and any predecessor’s existence if less than three years; and, if any part of the proceeds of the offering is to be applied to the purchase of any business, the same financial statements which would be required if that business were the registrant; and

(19) such additional information as the bureau chief requires by rule or order.

(c) Registration by qualification shall become effective when the bureau chief so orders.

(d) The bureau chief may by rule or order require as a condition of registration by qualification that a prospectus containing any designated part of the information specified in subsection (b) of this section be sent or given to each person to whom an offer is made before or concurrently with (1) the first written offer made to him (otherwise than by means of a public advertisement) by or for the account of the issuer or any other person on whose behalf the offering is being made, or by any underwriter or broker-dealer who is offering part of an unsold allotment or subscription taken by him as a participant in the distribution, (2) the confirmation of any sale made by or for the account of any such person, (3) payment pursuant to any such sale, or (4) delivery of the security pursuant to any such sale, whichever first occurs.

(e) The bureau chief may by rule or order require as a condition of registration by qualification (1) that any security issued within the past three years or to be issued to a promoter for a consideration substantially different from the public offering price, or to any person for a consideration other than cash, be deposited in escrow; and (2) that the proceeds from the sale of the registered security in this State be deposited in escrow until the issuer receives a specified amount from the sale of the security either in this State or elsewhere. The bureau chief may by rule or order determine the conditions of any escrow required hereunder, but he may not reject a depository solely because of location in another state.

(f) The bureau chief may by rule or order require as a condition of registration that any security registered by qualification be sold only on a specified form of subscription or sale contract, and that a signed or conformed copy of each contract be filed with the bureau chief or preserved for any period up to three years specified in the rule or order.

L.1967,c.93,s.14; amended 1997, c.276, s.15.