STER Sterling Check Corporation

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 31, 2024

Registration No. 333-268996

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

POST-EFFECTIVE AMENDMENT NO. 1

TO

FORM S-3 

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

Sterling Check Corp.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware

(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

37-1784336

(IRS Employer Identification Number)

6150 Oak Tree Boulevard, Suite 490

Independence, Ohio 44131

(310) 252-8100

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

Bret T. Jardine

Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary

Sterling Check Corp.

c/o First Advantage Corporation

1 Concourse Parkway NE, Suite 200

Atlanta, Georgia 30328

(888) 314-9761

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Copy to:

Kenneth B. Wallach, Esq.

Xiaohui (Hui) Lin, Esq.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

425 Lexington Avenue

New York, New York 10017

(212) 455-2000

(Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public): Not applicable. Removal from registration of securities that were registered but not sold pursuant to this registration statement.

If the only securities being registered on this Form are being offered pursuant to dividend or interest reinvestment plans, please check the following box. ☐

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, other than securities offered only in connection with dividend or interest reinvestment plans, check the following box. ☐

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐

If this Form is a registration statement pursuant to General Instruction I.D. or a post-effective amendment thereto that shall become effective upon filing with the Commission pursuant to Rule 462(e) under the Securities Act, check the following box. ☐

If this Form is a post-effective amendment to a registration statement filed pursuant to General Instruction I.D. filed to register additional securities or additional classes of securities pursuant to Rule 413(b) under the Securities Act, check the following box. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐

DEREGISTRATION OF SECURITIES

This Post-Effective Amendment No. 1 relates to the Registration Statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-268996) (the “Registration Statement”) of Sterling Check Corp., a Delaware corporation (“Sterling”), which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 23, 2022, as amended on January 20, 2023.

On October 31, 2024, pursuant to and subject to the terms of the previously announced Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of February 28, 2024 (the “Merger Agreement”), by and among First Advantage Corporation (“First Advantage”), Sterling, and Starter Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation and an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of First Advantage (“Merger Sub”), Merger Sub merged with and into Sterling, with Sterling surviving the merger with Merger Sub and becoming an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of First Advantage (the “Transaction”).

As a result of the Transaction, any and all offerings of securities registered pursuant to the Registration Statement have been terminated. In accordance with undertakings made by Sterling in the Registration Statement to remove from registration, by means of a post-effective amendment, any of the securities registered under the Registration Statement that remain unsold at the termination of the offering, Sterling hereby removes from registration all securities registered under the Registration Statement but unsold as of the date hereof.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-3 and has duly caused this Post-Effective Amendment to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the city of Atlanta, State of Georgia, on October 31, 2024.

No other person is required to sign this Post-Effective Amendment to the Registration Statement on Form S-3 in reliance upon Rule 478 under the Securities Act of 1933.