Shelf registration, shelf offering, or shelf prospectus is a type of public offering where certain issuers are allowed to offer and sell securities to the public without a separate prospectus for each act of offering and without the issue of further prospectus. Instead, there is a single prospectus for multiple, undefined future offerings. The prospectus (often as part of a registration statement) may be used to offer securities for up to several years after its publication. A shelf registration statement is a filing with the SEC to register a public offering, usually where there is no present intention to immediately sell all the securities being registered. A shelf registration statement permits multiple offerings based on the same registration. Shelf registration is mostly used for sales of new securities by the issuer (primary offerings), although it might possibly be used for resales of outstanding securities (secondary offerings) or a combination of both.
For example, a company can file a shelf registration statement with a prospectus for 100,000,000 shares, $1,000,000,000 face value of bonds, $500,000,000 face value of convertible bonds, 50,000,000 Series A warrants, and 50,000,000 Series B warrants. These five different classes or series of securities are offered in a single document. The company may offer to sell all of them, none of them, or any part of some class. It can sell 30,000,000 shares at one time and another 50,000,000 a year later (it will then have 20,000,000 unissued shares covered by the shelf prospectus).
Before each offering and sale is actually made, the company must file a relatively short statement regarding material changes in its business and finances since the shelf prospectus was filed.
Shelf registration is usually available to companies deemed reliable by the securities regulation authority in the relevant country. Because of their purposefully time-constrained nature, shelf offerings are examined far less rigorously by those authorities than standard public offerings.
Shelf registration is a process authorized by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under Rule 415 that allows a single registration document to be filed by a company that permits the issuance of multiple securities. Form S-3 issuers may use shelf registration to register securities that will be offered on an immediate, continuous or delayed basis.
In July 2005 the SEC put "automatic registration" shelf filings in place. This filing is a relaxed registration process that applies to well-known, seasoned issuers (WKSI, pronounced "wiksy"), and covers debt securities, common stock, preferred stock and warrants, among other various instruments. A WKSI is a company that has filed all annual, quarterly and current reports in a timely manner, and either has a greater than $700 million market capitalization or has issued $1 billion in registered debt offerings over the past three years.
Shelf registration is a registration of a new issue that can be prepared up to three years in advance, [1] so that the issue can be offered quickly as soon as funds are needed or market conditions are favorable. For example, current market conditions in the housing market are not favorable for a specific firm to issue a public offering. In this case, it may not be a good time for a firm in the sector (e.g. a home builder) to come out with its second offering because many investors will be pessimistic about companies working in that sector. By using shelf registration, the firm can fulfill all registration-related procedures beforehand and go to market quickly when conditions become more favorable.
Finally, firms often use universal shelf filings and choose between debt and equity offerings based on the prevailing relative market conditions.
The primary market is the part of the capital market that deals with the issuance and sale of equity-backed securities to investors directly by the issuer. Investor buy securities that were never traded before. Primary markets create long term instruments through which corporate entities raise funds from the capital market. It is also known as the New Issue Market (NIM).
A security is a tradable financial asset. The term commonly refers to any form of financial instrument, but its legal definition varies by jurisdiction. In some countries and languages the term "security" is commonly used in day-to-day parlance to mean any form of financial instrument, even though the underlying legal and regulatory regime may not have such a broad definition. In some jurisdictions the term specifically excludes financial instruments other than equities and fixed income instruments. In some jurisdictions it includes some instruments that are close to equities and fixed income, e.g., equity warrants.
Initial public offering (IPO) or stock market launch is a type of public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also retail (individual) investors. An IPO is underwritten by one or more investment banks, who also arrange for the shares to be listed on one or more stock exchanges. Through this process, colloquially known as floating, or going public, a privately held company is transformed into a public company. Initial public offerings can be used to raise new equity capital for companies, to monetize the investments of private shareholders such as company founders or private equity investors, and to enable easy trading of existing holdings or future capital raising by becoming publicly traded.
The Securities Act of 1933, also known as the 1933 Act, the Securities Act, the Truth in Securities Act, the Federal Securities Act, and the '33 Act, was enacted by the United States Congress on May 27, 1933, during the Great Depression, after the stock market crash of 1929. Legislated pursuant to the Interstate Commerce Clause of the Constitution, it requires every offer or sale of securities that uses the means and instrumentalities of interstate commerce to be registered with the SEC pursuant to the 1933 Act, unless an exemption from registration exists under the law. The term "means and instrumentalities of interstate commerce" is extremely broad and it is virtually impossible to avoid the operation of the statute by attempting to offer or sell a security without using an "instrumentality" of interstate commerce. Any use of a telephone, for example, or the mails would probably be enough to subject the transaction to the statute.
In finance, a convertible bond or convertible note or convertible debt is a type of bond that the holder can convert into a specified number of shares of common stock in the issuing company or cash of equal value. It is a hybrid security with debt- and equity-like features. It originated in the mid-19th century, and was used by early speculators such as Jacob Little and Daniel Drew to counter market cornering.
In the United States under the Securities Act of 1933, any offer to sell securities must either be registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or meet certain qualifications to exempt them from such registration. Regulation D contains the rules providing exemptions from the registration requirements, allowing some companies to offer and sell their securities without having to register the securities with the SEC. A Regulation D offering is intended to make access to the capital markets possible for small companies that could not otherwise bear the costs of a normal SEC registration. Reg D may also refer to an investment strategy, mostly associated with hedge funds, based upon the same regulation. The regulation is found under Title 17 of the Code of Federal Regulations, part 230, Sections 501 through 508. The legal citation is 17 C.F.R. §230.501 et seq.
Securities market is a component of the wider financial market where securities can be bought and sold between subjects of the economy, on the basis of demand and supply. Securities markets encompasses stock markets, bond markets and derivatives markets where prices can be determined and participants both professional and non professionals can meet.
Formally known as an "over-allotment option", a greenshoe is the term commonly used to describe a special arrangement in a share offering, for example an initial public offering (IPO), which enables the investment bank representing the underwriters to support the share price after the offering without putting their own capital at risk. The option is codified as a provision in the underwriting agreement between the leading underwriter - the lead manager - and the issuer or vendor.
A rights issue or rights offer is a dividend of subscription rights to buy additional securities in a company made to the company's existing security holders. When the rights are for equity securities, such as shares, in a public company, it is a non-dilutive(can be dilutive) pro rata way to raise capital. Rights issues are typically sold via a prospectus or prospectus supplement. With the issued rights, existing security-holders have the privilege to buy a specified number of new securities from the issuer at a specified price within a subscription period. In a public company, a rights issue is a form of public offering. Sometimes Right issue can give privileges to people like director, employees those are having some ownership in company to buy the issues.
Refco was a New York-based financial services company, primarily known as a broker of commodities and futures contracts. It was founded in 1969 by Raymond Earl Friedman as Ray E. Friedman and Co. Prior to its collapse in October, 2005, the firm had over $4 billion in approximately 200,000 customer accounts, and it was the largest broker on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The firm's balance sheet at the time of the collapse showed about $75 billion in assets and a roughly equal amount in liabilities. Though these filings have since been disowned by the company, they are probably roughly accurate in showing the firm's level of leverage.
A red herring prospectus, as a first or preliminary prospectus, is a document submitted by a company (issuer) as part of a public offering of securities. Most frequently associated with an initial public offering (IPO), this document, like the previously submitted Form S-1 registration statement, must be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A prospectus, in finance, is a disclosure document that describes a financial security for potential buyers. It commonly provides investors with material information about mutual funds, stocks, bonds and other investments, such as a description of the company's business, financial statements, biographies of officers and directors, detailed information about their compensation, any litigation that is taking place, a list of material properties and any other material information. In the context of an individual securities offering, such as an initial public offering, a prospectus is distributed by underwriters or brokerages to potential investors. Today, prospectuses are most widely distributed through websites such as EDGAR and its equivalents in other countries.
A follow-on offering is an issuance of stock subsequent to the company's initial public offering. A follow-on offering can be either of two types : dilutive and non-dilutive. A secondary offering is an offering of securities by a shareholder of the company. A follow on offering is preceded by release of prospectus similar to IPO: a Follow-on Public Offer (FPO).
Form S-1 is an SEC filing used by companies planning on going public to register their securities with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as the "registration statement by the Securities Act of 1933". The S-1 contains the basic business and financial information on an issuer with respect to a specific securities offering. Investors may use the prospectus to consider the merits of an offering and make educated investment decisions. A prospectus is one of the main documents used by an investor to research a company prior to an initial public offering (IPO). Other less detailed registration forms, such as Form S-3 may be used for certain registrations.
A Direct Public Offering (DPO) is a method by which a business can offer an investment opportunity directly to the public.
A venture round is a type of funding round used for venture capital financing, by which startup companies obtain investment, generally from venture capitalists and other institutional investors. The availability of venture funding is among the primary stimuli for the development of new companies and technologies.
A public offering is the offering of securities of a company or a similar corporation to the public. Generally, the securities are to be listed on a stock exchange. In most jurisdictions, a public offering requires the issuing company to publish a prospectus detailing the terms and rights attached to the offered security, as well as information on the company itself and its finances. Many other regulatory requirements surround any public offering and they vary according to jurisdiction.
Exempt market securities are securities issued in Canada that fall under National Instrument 45-106. They are exempt from prospectus requirements and hence require less disclosure than a prospectus offering. To sell a security in the exempt market, an issuer must ensure that the investor qualifies under a specific exemption contained in the Instrument. Common exemptions include:
Regulation S-K is a prescribed regulation under the US Securities Act of 1933 that lays out reporting requirements for various SEC filings used by public companies. Companies are also often called issuers, filers or registrants.
Securities regulation in Canada is conducted by the various provincial securities commissions and self-regulating organizations (“SRO”) such as the MFDA and IIROC. Securities are issued under the authority and oversight of these bodies with the result that a broad range of rules apply to companies seeking to raise capital and to the parties acting as their agents in such transactions. However, there is a useful simplification that can be applied in Canada to provide some clarity for issuers - based on the criteria below securities issuers fall into two broad categories: