StrikeAndYield crib sheet · information and education only

Equity Capital Markets

Selling shares — a company's first sale to the public, its next one, and the days somebody places a large block of an existing holding.

The desk — 10 transaction types

Block trade	A bank buys the whole holding outright at a guaranteed price, then owns the problem until it is placed.
Follow-on offering	A listed company selling more shares. The market already knows what it is buying, so only the discount is in question.
Initial public offering	A year of preparation, ten days of bookbuilding, one price for everybody — and the highest bidder does not win.
Rights issue	Every shareholder is offered new shares in proportion. Nobody who takes part is diluted, which is why the discount can be enormous and cost nothing.

Accelerated bookbuild	A block of shares sold between the close and the open. The whole transaction is shorter than one meeting.
De-SPAC merger	A listed cash shell merges with a private company. The money raised is not the money that arrives.
Direct listing	A company lists its existing shares without selling any. No bookbuild, no underwriter, no offer price — the first trade sets it.
PIPE	A listed company selling shares privately, at a discount, usually because the public route is not open to it.

Convertible bond issue	A bond that can become shares. Sold by the equity desk, documented like a bond, and priced off volatility.
Greenshoe and stabilisation	For a defined period after a listing, one named bank may support the price within published limits. It is disclosed, and it is not a rescue.

The volatility index, more than the level of the market — High volatility shuts the window regardless of how high prices are
How the last few deals traded after listing — Two broken deals close the window for everybody
Free float and index inclusion — A larger float can mean a lower price and a much larger buyer
Lock-up expiry — A known, dated increase in supply
The reporting blackout — Removes whole weeks from the year
Whether the seller is the company or a shareholder — Primary money funds the business; secondary money leaves with the seller

The kick-off, months before anything is public	Auditors, lawyers and banks begin the work that produces a prospectus
Intention to float, roughly a month before pricing	The company announces publicly that it intends to list
The bookbuild, a week to ten days	Investors place orders at prices within a published range
Pricing night	One price is struck for everybody in the book
Stabilisation, the weeks after listing	The stabilising manager may buy in the market, within published limits

Counted from the same table each transaction page prints. Not a rating and not a ranking: there is deliberately no total.