Corporate Underwritings Flashcards
Firm Commitment
Acts as a principal, buying the issue and re-selling to the public.
Underwriter assumes full financial liability
Best Efforts
acts as agent, uses beset efforts to sell the security but does not have financial laibility
Managing Underwriter
- the member firm that has the relationship with the issuer, the manager decides which firms to let into the syndicate; makes all decisions for the syndicate; manages the syndicate account; and earns a management fee on each security sold.
Syndicate Member
- a firm that signs the syndicate agreement, sharing in selling responsibility and liability for the offering.
- earns the Underwriter’s Concession (or “Takedown”) on each security sold
Selling Group Member
- a firm that helps the syndicate find customers for the securities. The selling group member acts as agent only, taking no liability.
- earns the Selling Concession on each security sold.
The preliminary prospectus (red herring) contains
he financial statements of the issuer, information on the company’s officers, business plans, plans for the use of the proceeds of the offering, etc.
If the level of interest is very high during cooling off period
then the final Public Offering Price might be increased; and/or the size of the offering might be increased. and vice versa
The Public Offering Price
is the net price that the public pays - there are no commissions.
Tombstone criteria
- name of issuer,
- type of security
- size of security
- Public Offering Price
- names of syndicate members
In a negotiated offering the spread is
disclosed on front cover of prospectuses
FINRA Rule 5130
insure that new issue securities that are “in demand” are not withheld from sale to the public by member firms who intend to “keep” these shares for their own benefit, since the price is likely to rise in the aftermarket.
“spinning” of IPO shares.
where a member firm gives officers of public companies IPO allocations in return for receiving underwriting business from that company
Sticky Issue
- If the issue opens for trading at price that is lower than the Public Offering Price
- it will be stuck on the hands of the underwriters.
stabilizing bid
are placed, at, or just below, the Public Offering Price.
penalty bid” clause
if too many customers of a single syndicate member “hit” the stabilizing bid; the manager knows that this syndicate member sold to speculators - not to long term investors - and the syndicate manager penalizes the syndicate member on these orders.
Shelf registration 415
allows large established employers to keep a blanket letter on file for 3 years
municipal financial advisor
- retained by a municipality when it wishes to sell a new issue of bonds.
- municipal securities firms that have a good knowledge of the municipality, its finances and its officials
- helps the issuer in achieving the lowest interest cost on the issue
Bond Counsel
- perform the legal work associated with the offering- - - writes the bond contract (the contract between the bondholder and the issuer)
The opinion covers the
Validity of the issue - that the issue is a valid, binding, obligation of the issuer;
Legality of the issue - that the issuer has the legal authority to sell the bonds;
Tax status of the issue - that the interest income from the issue is free from Federal income ta
Official Notice of Sale
- publishes an advertisement in the “Bond Buyer”
- which solicits bids from interested underwriters
Included in the Official Notice of Sale
Sale date, time and place; Amount of good faith check needed to bid; Par value of each maturity of the bonds; Interest payment dates for the bonds; Dated date of the issue; Source of income backing the issue; Method of awarding the bonds to the winning bidder; Name of the bond counsel
Not included in the Official Notice of Sale
are the interest rates on the bonds - the bidders specify the interest rates they wish to bid - with the lowest interest rates (lowest interest cost to the issuer) winning the bid
True Interest Cost
takes into account the actual timing of interest payments using present value methods
- places heavier weight on earlier interest payments than later
Good faith check
- typically 2%
To determine the interest rates to bid on a new issue
- The types of bonds being issued
- The maturities of the bonds being issued
- The anticipated demand for the new issue of bonds
- Interest rates in the market for the most similar bonds that are outstanding
write the scale
- underwriters will contact potential customers for the issue, and will determine at what interest rates these customers would buy the bonds
- most municipal issues are serial bonds (sequential maturities); and yields tend to increase as maturities lengthen (a normal yield curve), the yields “scale-up” with maturity.
‘pre-sale” orders
because they are taken prior to the sale of the bonds through competitive bid by the municipality
Bid Form
Pre-printed form bid is given on
specifies the interest rates bid for each maturity; and computes either the “Net Interest Cost” or “True Interest Cost” of the bid
The issuer accepts the bid that represents
the lowest interest cost to the municipality.
Winning Bid
lowest interest rate
if a premium over par is specified in the bid
then this reduces the interest cost to the issue
If a discount below par is specified in the bid
then this increases the interest cost to the issuer