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What is Share and how is it issued? Know the detail in simple words.

What is an 'Equity'/Share?
Total equity capital of a company is divided into equal units of small denominations, each called a share. For example, in a company the total equity capital of Rs 200,00,000 is divided into 20,00,000 units of Rs 10 each. Each such unit of Rs 10 is called a Share. Thus, the company then is said to have 20,00,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each. The holders of such shares are members of the company and have voting rights.

Issue of Shares

Why do companies need to issue shares to the public?
Most companies are usually started privately by their promoter(s). However, the promoters' capital and the borrowings from banks and financial institutions may not be sufficient for setting up or running the business over a long term. So companies invite the public to contribute towards the equity and issue shares to individual investors. The way to invite share capital from the public is through a 'Public Issue'. Simply stated, a public issue is an offer to the public to subscribe to the share capital of a company. Once this is done, the company allots shares to the applicants as per the prescribed rules and regulations laid down by SEBI.

What are the different kinds of issues?

Primarily, issues can be classified as a Public, Rights or Preferential issues (also known as private placements). While public and rights issues involve a detailed procedure, private placements or preferential issues are relatively simpler. The classification of issues is illustrated below:

Initial Public Offering (IPO) is when an unlisted company makes either a fresh issue of securities or an offer for sale of its existing securities or both for the first time to the public. This paves way for listing and trading of the issuer's securities.

A follow on public offering (Further Issue/FPO) is when an already listed company makes either a fresh issue of securities to the public or an offer for sale to the public, through an offer document.

Rights Issue is when a listed company which proposes to issue  fresh securities to its existing shareholders as on a record date. The rights are normally offered in a particular ratio to the number of securities held prior to the issue. This route is best suited for companies who would like to raise capital without diluting stake of its existing shareholders.


A Preferential issue is an issue of shares or of convertible securities by listed companies to a select group of persons under Section 81 of the Companies Act, 1956 which is neither a rights issue nor a public issue. This is a faster way for a company to raise equity capital. The issuer company has to comply with the Companies Act and the requirements contained in the Chapter pertaining to preferential allotment in SEBI guidelines which inter- alia include pricing, disclosures in notice etc.

What is meant by Issue price?
The price at which a company's shares are offered initially in the primary market is called as the Issue price. When they begin to be traded, the market price may be above or below the issue price.

What is meant by Market Capitalisation?
The market value of a quoted company, which is calculated by multiplying its current share price (market price) by the number of shares in issue is called as market capitalization. E.g. Company A has 120 million shares in issue. The current market price is Rs. 100. The market capitalisation of company A is Rs. 12000 million.

What is the difference between public issue and private placement?

When an issue is not made to only a select set of people but is open to the general public and any other investor at large, it is a public issue. But if the issue is made to a select set of people, it is called private placement. As per Companies Act, 1956, an issue becomes public if it results in allotment to 50 persons or more. This means an issue can be privately placed where an allotment is made to less than 50 persons.

What is an Initial Public Offer (IPO)?

An Initial Public Offer (IPO) is the selling of securities to the public in the primary market. It is when an unlisted company makes either a fresh issue of securities or an offer for sale of its existing securities or both for the first time to the public. This paves way for listing and trading of the issuer's securities. The sale of securities can be either through book building or through normal public issue.

Who decides the price of an issue?
Indian primary market ushered in an era of free pricing in 1992. Following this, the guidelines have provided that the issuer in consultation with Merchant Banker shall decide the price. There is no price formula stipulated by SEBI. SEBI does not play any role in price fixation. The company and merchant banker are however required to give full disclosures of the parameters which they had considered while deciding the issue price. There are two types of issues, one where company and Lead Merchant Banker fix a price (called fixed price) and other, where the company and the Lead Manager (LM) stipulate a floor price or a price band and leave it to market forces to determine the final price (price discovery through book building process).

What does 'price discovery through Book Building Process' mean?
Book Building is basically a process used in IPOs for efficient price discovery. It is a mechanism where, during the period for which the IPO is open, bids are collected from investors at various prices, which are above or equal to the floor price. The offer price is determined after the bid closing date.

What is the main difference between offer of shares through book building and offer of shares through normal public issue?

Price at which securities will be allotted is not known in case of offer of shares through Book Building while in case of offer of shares through normal public issue, price is known in advance to investor. Under Book Building, investors bid for shares at the floor price or above and after the closure of the book building process the price is determined for allotment of shares.

In case of Book Building, the demand can be known everyday as the book is being built. But in case of the public issue the demand is known at the close of the issue.


What is Cut-Off Price?
In a Book building issue, the issuer is required to indicate either the price band or a floor price in the prospectus. The actual discovered issue price can be any price in the price band or any price above the floor price. This issue price is called "Cut-Off Price". The issuer and lead manager decides this after considering the book and the investors' appetite for the stock

What is the floor price in case of book building?
Floor price is the minimum price at which bids can be made.

What is a Price Band in a book built IPO?
The prospectus may contain either the floor price for the securities or a price band within which the investors can bid. The spread between the floor and the cap of the price band shall not be more than 20%. In other words, it means that the cap should not be more than 120% of the floor price. The price band can have a revision and such a revision in the price band shall be widely disseminated by informing the stock exchanges, by issuing a press release and also indicating the change on the relevant website and the terminals of the trading members participating in the book building process. In case the price band is revised, the bidding period shall be extended for a further period of three days, subject to the total bidding period not exceeding ten days.

Who decides the Price Band?

It may be understood that the regulatory mechanism does not play a role in setting the price for issues. It is up to the company to decide on the price or the price band, in consultation with Merchant Bankers.

What is minimum number of days for which a bid should remain open during book building?
The Book should remain open for a minimum of 3 days.

Can open outcry system be used for book building?
No. As per SEBI, only electronically linked transparent facility is allowed to be used in case of book building.

Can the individual investor use the book building facility to make an application?
Yes.

How does one know if shares are allotted in an IPO/offer for sale? What is the timeframe for getting refund if shares not allotted?
As per SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2009 the Basis of Allotment should be completed with 8 days from the issue close date. As soon as the basis of allotment is completed, within 2 working days the details of credit to demat account / allotment advice and despatch of refund order needs to be completed. So an investor should know in about 11 days time from the closure of issue, whether shares are allotted to him or not.

How long does it take to get the shares listed after issue?
It takes 12 working days after the closure of the book built issue.

Thanks for reading. We hope this was informative to you. Read Investment Related more articles.


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