Initial Public Offerings – An Issuer’s Guide

Keywords: IPO, initial public offerings, Europe

For most companies and their owners, an initial public offering (IPO) is a "once-in-in-a-lifetime" event that may represent the culmination of many years of hard work. The IPO may provide both the shareholders and management of the company with a significant sense of accomplishment and will arguably be one of the most important milestones in the corporate evolution of a company, for its owners, management, employees and other stakeholders.

An IPO, however, will also frequently bring with it a sense of upheaval as significant changes are often required to be made to the way a company operates and conducts itself – membership of the new "public" world brings with it legal and compliance obligations that need to be both understood and complied with.