The Public offering Process
The report aims to analyze the current situation at Dottie’s Grocery and summarize recommendations. The recommendation is that the grocery store proceeds with a public offering involving corporate bonds (publicly issued debt) or common stocks. The capital the public offering raises enables the expansion of a business but is helpful for other purposes such as covering business operation shortfalls. The company will select an underwriter, i.e., a trusted investment banker. The investment banker analyzes the firm’s current status and acts as the broker between public investors and the firm (Chen, 2021). The next step is due diligence and documentation of all requirements, including the registration statement and the red herring document (CFI, 2021). The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) approves the public offering registration before the company and its underwriters decide on total bonds or stocks to sell and the price. Registering a public offering requires the firm to file a statement with SEC, and the agency offers its securities to the public investors (SEC, n.d.). The sale of common stock or corporate bonds starts when SEC makes the firm’s public offering registration effective. The investment banker and the firm then agree on the total shares to sell and set the price. The next step is creating a market for the stocks or bonds and fixing the issuance date (Hussain n.d.). The company becomes publicly traded and subject to various conditions, including public financial reporting requirements.