initial Public Offering - IPO

What Does Initial Public Offering - IPO Mean?

The first sale of stock by a private company to the public. IPOs are often issued by smaller, younger companies seeking the capital to expand, but can also be done by large privately owned companies looking to become publicly traded. In an IPO, the issuer obtains the assistance of an underwriting firm, which helps it determine what type of security to issue (common or preferred), the best offering price and the time to bring it to market.

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An initial public offering (IPO), is the first sale of stock by a formerly private company. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises. Many companies that undertake an IPO also request the assistance of an Investment Banking firm acting in the capacity of an underwriter to help them correctly assess the value of their shares, that is, the share price (IPO Initial Public Offerings, 2011).

Contents
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1 History 2 Reasons for listing 3 Disadvantages of an IPO 4 Procedure 5 Auction 6 Pricing 7 Issue price

8 Quiet period 9 Stag profit 10 Largest IPOs 11 See also 12 External links 13 References

[edit] History
This section requires expansion. In 1602, the Dutch East India Company was the first company in the world to issue stocks and bonds in an initial public offering (Chambers, 2006).

[edit] Reasons for listing

When a company lists its securities on a public exchange, the money paid by investors for the newly issued shares goes directly to the company (in contrast to a later trade of shares on the exchange, where the money passes between investors). An IPO, therefore, allows a company to tap a wide pool of investors to provide it with capital for future growth, repayment of debt or working capital. A company selling common shares is never required to repay the capital to investors. Once a company is listed, it is able to issue additional common shares via a secondary offering, thereby again providing itself with capital for expansion without incurring any debt. This ability to quickly raise large amounts of capital from the market is a key reason many companies seek to go public. There are several benefits to being a public company, namely:

Bolstering and diversifying equity base Enabling cheaper access to capital Exposure, prestige and public image Attracting and retaining better management and employees through liquid equity participation Facilitating acquisitions Creating multiple financing opportunities: equity, convertible debt, cheaper bank loans, etc. Increased liquidity for equity holder

[edit] Disadvantages of an IPO

There are several disadvantages to completing an initial public offering, namely:

Significant legal, accounting and marketing costs Ongoing requirement to disclose financial and business information Meaningful time, effort and attention required of senior management Risk that required funding will not be raised Public dissemination of information which may be useful to competitors, suppliers and customers

[edit] Procedure
IPOs generally involve one or more investment banks known as "underwriters". The company offering its shares, called the "issuer", enters a contract with a lead underwriter to sell its shares to the public. The underwriter then approaches investors with offers to sell these shares. The sale (allocation and pricing) of shares in an IPO may take several forms. Common methods include:

Best efforts contract Firm commitment contract All-or-none contract Bought deal Dutch auction

A large IPO is usually underwritten by a "syndicate" of investment banks led by one or more major investment banks (lead underwriter). Upon selling the shares, the underwriters keep a commission based on a percentage of the value of the shares sold (called the gross spread). Usually, the lead underwriters, i.e. the underwriters selling the largest proportions of the IPO, take the highest commissionsup to 8% in some cases. Multinational IPOs may have many syndicates to deal with differing legal requirements in both the issuer's domestic market and other regions. For example, an issuer based in the E.U. may be represented by the main selling syndicate in its domestic market, Europe, in addition to separate syndicates or selling groups for US/Canada and for Asia. Usually, the lead underwriter in the main selling group is also the lead bank in the other selling groups. Because of the wide array of legal requirements and because it is an expensive process, IPOs typically involve one or more law firms with major practices in securities law, such as the Magic Circle firms of London and the white shoe firms of New York City. Public offerings are sold to both institutional investors and retail clients of underwriters. A licensed securities salesperson ( Registered Representative in the USA and Canada ) selling shares of a public offering to his clients is paid a commission from their dealer rather than their client. In cases where the salesperson is the client's advisor it is notable that the financial incentives of the advisor and client are not aligned. In the US sales can only be made through a final prospectus cleared by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Investment dealers will often initiate research coverage on companies so their Corporate Finance departments and retail divisions can attract and market new issues. The issuer usually allows the underwriters an option to increase the size of the offering by up to 15% under certain circumstance known as the greenshoe or overallotment option.

[edit] Auction
This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2006) A venture capitalist named Bill Hambrecht has attempted to devise a method that can reduce the inefficient process. He devised a way to issue shares through a Dutch auction as an attempt to minimize the extreme underpricing that underwriters were nurturing. Underwriters, however, have not taken to this strategy very well which is understandable given that auctions are threatening large fees otherwise payable. Though not the first company to use Dutch auction, Google is one established company that went public through the use of auction. Google's share price rose 17% in its first day of trading despite the auction method. Brokers close to the IPO report that the underwriters actively discouraged institutional investors from buying to reduce demand and send the initial price down. The resulting low share price was then used to "illustrate" that auctions generally don't work. Perception of IPOs can be controversial. For those who view a successful IPO to be one that raises as much money as possible, the IPO was a total failure. For those who view a successful IPO from the kind of investors that eventually gained from the underpricing, the IPO was a complete success. It's important to note that different sets of investors bid in auctions versus the open marketmore institutions bid, fewer private individuals bid. Google may be a special case, however, as many individual investors bought the stock based on long-term valuation shortly after it launched its IPO, driving it beyond institutional valuation.

[edit] Pricing
The underpricing of initial public offerings (IPO) has been well documented in different markets (Ibbotson, 1975; Ritter 1984; Levis, 1990; McGuinness, 1992; Drucker and Puri, 2007). While issuers always try to maximize their issue proceeds, the underpricing of IPOs has constituted a serious anomaly in the literature of financial economics. Many financial economists have developed different models to explain the underpricing of IPOs. Some of the models explained it as a consequences of deliberate underpricing by issuers or their agents. In general, smaller issues are observed to be underpriced more than large issues (Ritter, 1984, Ritter, 1991, Levis, 1990) Historically, some of IPOs both globally and in the United States have been underpriced. The effect of "initial underpricing" an IPO is to generate additional interest in the stock when it first becomes publicly traded. Through flipping, this can lead to significant gains for investors who have been allocated shares of the IPO at the offering price. However, underpricing an IPO results

in "money left on the table"lost capital that could have been raised for the company had the stock been offered at a higher price. One great example of all these factors at play was seen with theglobe.com IPO which helped fuel the IPO mania of the late 90's internet era. Underwritten by Bear Stearns on November 13, 1998, the stock had been priced at $9 per share, and famously jumped 1000% at the opening of trading all the way up to $97, before deflating and closing at $63 after large sell offs from institutions flipping the stock. Although the company did raise about $30 million from the offering it is estimated that with the level of demand for the offering and the volume of trading that took place the company might have left upwards of $200 million on the table. The danger of overpricing is also an important consideration. If a stock is offered to the public at a higher price than the market will pay, the underwriters may have trouble meeting their commitments to sell shares. Even if they sell all of the issued shares, if the stock falls in value on the first day of trading, it may lose its marketability and hence even more of its value. Underwriters, therefore, take many factors into consideration when pricing an IPO, and attempt to reach an offering price that is low enough to stimulate interest in the stock, but high enough to raise an adequate amount of capital for the company. The process of determining an optimal price usually involves the underwriters ("syndicate") arranging share purchase commitments from leading institutional investors. On the other hand, some researchers (e.g. Geoffrey C., and C. Swift, 2009) believe that IPOs are not being under-priced deliberately by issuers and/or underwriters, but the price-rocketing phenomena on issuance days are due to investors' over-reaction (Friesen & Swift, 2009). Some algorithms to determine underpricing: IPO Underpricing Algorithms

[edit] Issue price

A company that is planning an IPO appoints lead managers to help it decide on an appropriate price at which the shares should be issued. There are two ways in which the price of an IPO can be determined: either the company, with the help of its lead managers, fixes a price or the price is arrived at through the process of book building. Note: Not all IPOs are eligible for delivery settlement through the DTC system, which would then either require the physical delivery of the stock certificates to the clearing agent bank's custodian, or a delivery versus payment (DVP) arrangement with the selling group brokerage firm.

[edit] Quiet period

Main article: Quiet period There are two time windows commonly referred to as "quiet periods" during an IPO's history. The first and the one linked above is the period of time following the filing of the company's S-1

but before SEC staff declare the registration statement effective. During this time, issuers, company insiders, analysts, and other parties are legally restricted in their ability to discuss or promote the upcoming IPO (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 2005). The other "quiet period" refers to a period of 40 calendar days following an IPO's first day of public trading. During this time, insiders and any underwriters involved in the IPO are restricted from issuing any earnings forecasts or research reports for the company. Regulatory changes enacted by the SEC as part of the Global Settlement enlarged the "quiet period" from 25 days to 40 days on July 9, 2002. When the quiet period is over, generally the underwriters will initiate research coverage on the firm. Additionally, the NASD and NYSE have approved a rule mandating a 10-day quiet period after a Secondary Offering and a 15-day quiet period both before and after expiration of a "lock-up agreement" for a securities offering.

[edit] Stag profit

Stag profit is a stock market term used to describe a situation before and immediately after a company's Initial public offering (or any new issue of shares). A stag is a party or individual who subscribes to the new issue expecting the price of the stock to rise immediately upon the start of trading. Thus, stag profit is the financial gain accumulated by the party or individual resulting from the value of the shares rising. For example, one might expect a certain I.T. company to do particularly well and purchase a large volume of their stock or shares before flotation on the stock market. Once the price of the shares has risen to a satisfactory level the person will choose to sell their shares and make a stag profit.

[edit] Largest IPOs

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. General Motors $23.1 billion (2010)[1] Agricultural Bank of China $22.1 billion (2010)[2] Industrial and Commercial Bank of China $21.9 billion (2006)[3] American International Assurance $20.5 billion (2010)[4] Visa Inc. $19.7 billion (2008)[5]

[edit] See also

Alternative public offering Direct public offering Equity carve-out Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) Private placement Public offering without listing Reverse IPO Seasoned equity offering SEC Form S-1 (Registration form for certain types of issuers)

Secondary market offering Venture capital

SEBI Guidelines for IPOs 1. IPOs of small companies Public issue of less than five crores has to be through OTCEI and separate guidelines apply for floating and listing of these issues. (Public Offer By Small Unlisted Companies) 2. Size of the Public Issue Issue of shares to general public cannot be less than 25% of the total issue, incase of information technology, media and telecommunication sectors this stipulation is reduced subject to the conditions that:

Offer to the public is not less than 10% of the securities issued. A minimum number of 20 lakh securities is offered to the public and Size of the net offer to the public is not less than Rs. 30 crores.

3. Promoter Contribution Promoters should bring in their contribution including premium fully before the issue Minimum Promoters contribution is 20-25% of the public issue. Minimum Lock in period for promoters contribution is five years Minimum lock in period for firm allotments is three years.

4. Collection centers for receiving applications There should be at least 30 mandatory collection centers, which should include invariably the places where stock exchanges have been established. For issues not exceeding Rs.10 crores (including premium, if any), the collection centres shall be situated at:o the four metropolitan centres viz. Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta, Madras; and o at all such centres where stock exchanges are located in the region in which the

registered office of the company is situated. 5. Regarding allotment of shares Net Offer to the General Public has to be at least 25% of the Total Issue Size for listing on a Stock exchange. It is mandatory for a company to get its shares listed at the regional stock exchange where the registered office of the issuer is located. In an Issue of more than Rs. 25 crores the issuer is allowed to place the whole issue by book-building Minimum of 50% of the Net offer to the Public has to be reserved for Investors applying for less than 1000 shares. There should be atleast 5 investors for every 1 lakh of equity offered (not applicable to infrastructure companies). Quoting of Permanent Account Number or GIR No. in application for allotment of securities is compulsory where monetary value of Investment is Rs.50,000/- or above. Indian development financial institutions and Mutual Fund can be allotted securities upto 75% of the Issue Amount. A Venture Capital Fund shall not be entitled to get its securities listed on any stock exchange till the expiry of 3 years from the date of issuance of securities. Allotment to categories of FIIs and NRIs/OCBs is upto a maximum of 24%, which can be further extended to 30% by an application to the RBI - supported by a resolution passed in the General Meeting.

6. Timeframes for the Issue and Post- Issue formalities The minimum period for which a public issue has to be kept open is 3 working days and the maximum for which it can be kept open is 10 working days. The minimum period for a rights issue is 15 working days and the maximum is 60 working days. A public issue is effected if the issue is able to procure 90% of the Total issue size within 60 days from the date of earliest closure of the Public Issue. In case of oversubscription the company may have the right to retain the excess application money and allot shares more than the proposed issue, which is referred to as the greenshoe option. A rights issue has to procure 90% subscription in 60 days of the opening of the issue. Allotment has to be made within 30 days of the closure of the Public Issue and 42 days in case of a Rights issue. All the listing formalities for a public Issue has to be completed within 70 days from the date of closure of the subscription list.

7. Despatch of Refund Orders Refund orders have to be dispatched within 30 days of the closure of the Public Issue. Refunds of excess application money i.e. for un-allotted shares have to be made within 30 days of the closure of the Public Issue.

8. Other regulations pertaining to IPO

Underwriting is not mandatory but 90% subscription is mandatory for each issue of capital to public unless it is disinvestment in which case it is not applicable. If the issue is undersubscribed then the collected amount should be returned back (not valid for disinvestment issues). If the issue size is more than Rs. 500 crores voluntary disclosures should be made regarding the deployment of the funds and an adequate monitoring mechanism to be put in place to ensure compliance. There should not be any outstanding warrants or financial instruments of any other nature, at the time of initial public offer. In the event of the initial public offer being at a premium, and if the rights under warrants or other instruments have been exercised within the twelve months prior to such offer, the resultant shares will not be taken into account for reckoning the minimum promoter's contribution and further, the same will also be subject to lockin. Code of advertisement specified by SEBI should be adhered to. Draft prospectus submitted to SEBI should also be submitted simultaneously to all stock exchanges where it is proposed to be listed.

9. Restrictions on other allotments Firm allotments to mutual funds, FIIs and employees not subject to any lock-in period. Within twelve months of the public/rights issue no bonus issue should be made. Maximum percentage of shares, which can be distributed to employees cannot be more than 5% and maximum shares to be allotted to each employee cannot be more than 200.

10. Relaxations to public issues by infrastructure companies. These relaxations would be applicable to Infrastructure Companies as defined under Section 10(23G) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, provided their projects are appraised by any Developmental Financial Institution (DFI) or IDFC or IL&FS. The projects must also have a participation of at least 5% of the project cost (in debt and/or equity) by the appraising institution.

The infrastructure companies will be exempted from the requirement of making a minimum public offer of 25 per cent of its securities. The requirement of 5 shareholders per Rs. 1 lakh of offer is also waived in case of offerings by infrastructure companies. For public issues by infrastructure companies, minimum subscription of 90% would no longer be mandatory provided disclosure is made about the alternate source of funding which the company has considered, in the event of under subscription in the public issue. Infrastructure companies are permitted to freely price the offerings in the domestic market provided that the promoter companies along with Equipment Suppliers and other strategic investors subscribe to 50% of the equity at the same or a higher price than what is being offered to the public. Adequate disclosures about the justification for the pricing will be required to be made in the offer documents.

The Infrastructure Companies would be allowed to keep their issues open for 21 days. The relaxation would give infrastructure companies sufficient time to mobilise funds for their issues. Infrastructure Companies would not be required to create and maintain a Debenture Redemption Reserve (DRR) in case of Debenture Issues.

IPO proceeds will power Tata group Tata group Chairman Ratan Tata takes the stage at the inauguration of the TCS IPO, which opens on July 29, 2004

The opening of the treasure chest that is the initial public offering (IPO) of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will provide the Tata group with plenty of resources to strengthen the conglomerate. That was one of the key messages delivered by Tata group Chairman Ratan Tata at the inaugural presentation of the approaching IPO, which opens on July 29, 2004.

Speaking to reporters gathered in Mumbai for the presentation, Mr Tata said, "The proceeds from the IPO will be used to help the Tata group continue doing what it has been doing: restructuring its balance sheet, promoting new ventures, and deepening its involvement in existing group companies." He added that the TCS IPO is part of an attempt to meet four goals laid out about 10 years ago for the Tata group: increase group shareholding in Tata companies, restructure the group's portfolio, promote a common corporate brand, and improve shareholder value. A crucial component of the overall strategy was to strengthen the group's core businesses, IT being one of them. Mr Tata said that TCS would, in the course of time, consider an overseas listing and that it would use some of the proceeds from the IPO to make acquisitions abroad. He explained that the IPO would enhance TCS's global image, transforming it from a division of a private limited company (Tata Sons) to an independent enterprise with its own corporate identity. S Ramadorai, the chief executive officer of TCS, highlighted the organisation's leadership position in the Indian IT industry, its achievements and its plans for

the future. "We can rightfully claim our position as creators of the IT industry in India and the largest IT services company in the country," he said. Talking of a "multi-dimensional growth strategy", he explained that TCS would leverage its worldwide presence to bag large global deals, sell to existing customers, and strengthen and expand its partnerships and alliances. Mr Ramadorai said 10 per cent of the shares issued would be reserved for purchase at market rates by TCS employees based in India. Additionally, a reward scheme had been devised for select employees of TCS, its subsidiaries and Tata Sons, and they will be chosen on the basis of the length of time they have spent in the company and their contribution to it. Under this reward scheme, those eligible for the employee share-purchase scheme would be granted TCS shares at the face value of Re.1 (some 2.39 million shares have been reserved for this scheme). Those eligible for the reward but not selected for the share grant would be offered a cash grant. Mr Ramadorai dispelled concerns that TCS workers overseas would not be able to participate in the IPO due to laws in other countries prohibiting it. He clarified that a three-part payout package had been designed for employees (subject to the approval of the company's new board) to make sure committed and productive employees of the company would not be left out. The July 29 date for opening the 55,452,600-equity share IPO was chosen because it's the 100th birth anniversary of the late Tata group Chairman, JRD Tata. The entire issue will be made through a book-building process. The price band for the issue has been fixed at Rs775 and Rs900 per equity share of Re.1 each. The issue at these indicative prices would have an aggregate size between Rs4297.57 crore and Rs4990.73 crore. TCS is Asia's largest exporter of IT services and the largest Indian IT services organisation in terms of revenues and profits. It was the first Indian IT services organisation to achieve annual revenues of more than a billion dollars, a feat in accomplished in 2003. Established in 1968, TCS has pioneered many of the most significant developments in India's IT industry.