Lead Underwriter

Lead Underwriter
A investment bank or other financial outfit that has the primary directive for organizing an initial public stock offering, or a secondary offering for companies that are already publicly traded. The lead underwriter will usually work with other investment banks to establish a syndicate, and thereby create the initial sales force for the shares. These shares will then be sold to institutional and retail clients.

The lead underwriter will assess the company financials and current market conditions to arrive at the initial value and quantity of shares to be sold. These shares carry a hefty sales commission (as much as 6-8%) for the underwriting syndicate, with the majority of shares being held by the lead underwriter.

Being the lead underwriter for a stock offering, especially an initial public offering (IPO), can bring a large payday if the market shows high demand for the shares. Often the stock issuer will allow the lead underwriter to create an over-allotment of shares if demand is high, which can bring in even more money to the underwriting firm. There are substantial risks involved in underwriting stock offerings - any one company could plummet in the open market once public trading begins. This is why the large investment banks, such as Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and others will look to conduct many diverse offerings in the course of a year.

One or two great stock offerings a year can be enough to meet company earnings targets, but market conditions as a whole will determine the relative amount of profit the investment banks can earn. In the zooming market phase of the late-1990s, investment banks were making money hand over fist as eager investors gobbled up any new shares that came to market, and traded them much higher once on the exchange. However, when the market collapsed in late-2000, the underwriting community went into hibernation mode, advising even the best private companies to "wait out the storm" before going public.


Investment dictionary. . 2012.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • lead underwriter — USA lead manager, Also known as lead underwriter. If there is more than one managing underwriter participating in a registered offering of securities, one (or sometimes more) of the managing underwriters is designated as the lead manager(s), with …   Law dictionary

  • lead underwriter — The head of a syndicate of financial firms that are sponsoring an initial public offering of securities or a secondary offering of securities. Could also apply to bond issues. Bloomberg Financial Dictionary * * * lead underwriter UK US noun [C]… …   Financial and business terms

  • lead underwriter — /li:d ʌndəraɪtə/ noun an underwriting firm which organises the underwriting of a share issue (NOTE: The US term is managing underwriter.) …   Dictionary of banking and finance

  • lead manager — In the context of a bond issue, the lead manager is mandated by the bond issuer to arrange the transaction. Commonly will also be the bookrunner, that is, the bank which arranges the syndication. + lead manager / lead underwriter USA lead manager …   Law dictionary

  • Underwriter Syndicate — A temporary group of investment banks and broker dealers who come together to sell new offerings of equity or debt securities to investors. The underwriter syndicate is formed and led by the lead underwriter for a security issue. An underwriter… …   Investment dictionary

  • Lead manager — The commercial or investment bank with the primary responsibility for organizing syndicated bank credit or bond issue. The lead manager recruits additional lending or underwriting banks, negotiates terms of the issue with the issuer, and assesses …   Financial and business terms

  • lead manager — Subordinate to an arranger. Bloomberg Financial Dictionary * * * lead manage ˈlead ˌmanage verb [transitive] FINANCE to organize a syndicated loan (= a loan to one borrower by many lenders ) or aSecurities Issue …   Financial and business terms

  • underwriter — / ʌndəraɪtə/ noun a person or company that underwrites a share issue or an insurance COMMENT: When a major company flotation or share issue or loan is prepared, a group of companies (such as merchant banks) will form a syndicate to underwrite the …   Dictionary of banking and finance

  • lead manage — UK US (also lead manage) verb [T] FINANCE ► to manage the sale of new bonds or shares in a company or loans that several banks have joined together in making: »UBS is a leading underwriter of Eurobonds and was the first foreign bank in America to …   Financial and business terms

  • Lead Manager — Ein Konsortialgeschäft (engl. underwriting syndicate), ist ein meist von mehreren Banken, die alle als Underwriter fungieren, durchgeführtes Geschäft wie z. B. ein Börsengang (Emissionskonsortium). Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Anwendung 2 Rechtsnatur 3… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”