Initial Public Offering Basics For New Investors
September 5th, 2010
When a privately held company goes public via an Initial Public Offering, it is one of the most significant milestones in the company’s entire history. Way it works is that the company issues share certificates to investors and gets listed on a chosen stock market. After the listing, the company’s shares can be traded on the market.
In order to get to this point where the company gets listed, there are a huge number of requirements that the company has to fulfill. There are compliance issues, filings to regulatory bodies, and disclosures of the company’s financial condition. Once fulfilled, the benefits of a well subscribed IPO are massive and the company gets a big boost, in terms of cash and reputation.
The biggest benefit of an IPO is obviously the massive infusion of capital for financing ongoing operations and planned expansion of the business. It improves the company’s liquidity position and helps reduce debt. There is also a big uptick in brand recognition and trust in the company’s products and services.
The way an IPO works is that the SEC needs the company to file a registration statement along with a prospectus detailing every aspect of the company and its business. The prospectus will also include the company’s post-IPO plans and how the company plans to utilize the funds.
This process can be significantly eased with the help of the underwriters. It is their job to assist the company with the public offering. They’ll help the company move from being a private concern to a public company whose executives need to answer to the Board and every shareholder. But most importantly, they make a judgment about the IPO share price and the number of shares to be issued, and other aspects such as the timing and the market.
There are also changes in the way the company operates post IPO. Disclosures are mandatory, and the company has to file SEC statements and publish quarterly financial results. There’s also the AGM where the company has to answer to stockholders and important decisions about the direction of the company and its management are put to a vote. This is one big reason why companies hire new executives after an IPO, since there is a need for management who know how to run a public company.
How an IPO fares mostly depends on the company’s prospects and that of its sector. But IPOs fail all the time inspite of having sound basics and strong revenue models. There are many factors in play here, including the share pricing and quantity, the market and the timing of the IPO.
In Canada, for example, IPOs tend to be smaller than the ones in the US. They are also slightly under-priced because the market doesn’t have the same strong appetite for risk. European IPOs have to look at a lot more factors and have a smaller window, since problems in any EU member nation can affect markets in all the other nations.
During the dot-com era, anyone with a website willing to fulfill the regulatory requirements could launch an Initial Public Offering and become an overnight millionaire. Things are different now, and investors are looking for a safe bet with long-term potential. The process of getting listed as a publicly traded company is long and hard, but the flood of money that accompanies a successful IPO is well worth the effort.
In order to grow and expand, many companies will go through the IPO How process and make an Initial Public Offering (IPO) to the general public. A new IPO Prospectus valuation is usually made, and Canadian IPOs are becoming more common nowadays.