1. (a) Institutional investor. For purposes of this section, the term institutional investor means any entity of the following type:

   1. (1) A bank within the meaning of 15 U.S.C. 80b-2(a)(2);
   2. (2) Savings bank;
   3. (3) Savings and loan or building and loan company or association;
   4. (4) Trust company;
   5. (5) Insurance company;
   6. (6) Investment company registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a-1 et seq.);
   7. (7) Finance company;
   8. (8) Broker-dealer within the meaning of 15 U.S.C. 78c(a)(4) or (a)(5);
   9. (9) Small Business Investment Company or Minority Enterprise Small Business Investment Company regulated by the U.S. Small Business Administration pursuant to 15 U.S.C. 662;
   10. (10) A stock bonus, pension, or profit-sharing trust qualified under section 401 of the Internal Revenue Code;
   11. (11) Bank holding company within the meaning of 12 U.S.C. 1841;
   12. (12) An entity which is controlled directly or indirectly by an institutional investor and the activities of which are in the ordinary course of business of the institutional investor;
   13. (13) An entity which may supply incidental services to entities which it controls directly or indirectly but which performs no operating functions, and which is otherwise engaged only in holding controlling interests in institutional investors; or
   14. (14) A nonprofit entity within the meaning of sections 501(c) (1) through (4), (6) through (15), (17) through (20), or (d) of the Internal Revenue Code.

2. (b) Exemption. An acquisition of voting securities shall be exempt from the requirements of the act, except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, if:

   1. (1) Made directly by an institutional investor;
   2. (2) Made in the ordinary course of business;
   3. (3) Made solely for the purpose of investment; and
   4. (4) As a result of the acquisition the acquiring person would hold fifteen percent or less of the outstanding voting securities of the issuer.

3. (c) Exception to exemption. Notwithstanding paragraph (b) of this section:

   1. (1) No acquisition of voting securities of an institutional investor of the same type as any entity included within the acquiring person shall be exempt under this section; and

   2. (2) No acquisition by an institutional investor shall be exempt under this section if any entity included within the acquiring person which is not an institutional investor holds any voting securities of the issuer whose voting securities are to be acquired.

      Examples:1. Assume that A and its subsidiary, B, are both institutional investors as defined in paragraph (a) of this section, that X is not, and that the conditions set forth in paragraphs (b)(2), (3) and (4) of this section are satisfied. Either A or B may acquire voting securities of X worth in excess of $50 million (as adjusted) as long as the aggregate amount held by person “A” as a result of the acquisition does not exceed 15 percent of X's outstanding voting securities. If the aggregate holdings would exceed 15 percent, “A” may acquire no more than $50 million (as adjusted) worth of voting securities without being subject to the requirements of the act. 2. In example 1, assume that B plans to make the acquisition, but that corporation B's parent, corporation A, is not an institutional investor and is engaged in manufacturing. Subparagraph (c)(2) provides that acquisitions by B can never be exempt under this section if A owns any amount of X's voting securities.3. In example 1, the exemption does not apply if X is also an institutional investor of the same type as either A or B.4. Assume that H is a holding company which controls a life insurance company, a casualty insurer and a finance company. The life insurance company controls a data processing company which performs services for the two insurers. Any acquisition by any of these entities could qualify for exemption under this section.5. In example 4, if H also controls a manufacturing entity, H is not an institutional investor, and only the acquisitions made by the two insurance companies, the finance company and the data processing company can qualify for the exemption under this section.

[43 FR 33544, July 31, 1978, as amended at 66 FR 8694, Feb. 1, 2001; 70 FR 4996, Jan. 31, 2005]