Login | Register
Profile | Log out
logo

  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Other
    • Market Updates
    • Explainers
    • Satire
  • About
  • Contact Us
    • Contact
    • Get Covered
    • Posting Guidelines
  • Subscribe
Submit An Article

Latest Articles

  • Nanoveu Secures $2 Million to Fast-Track Commercial Launch of ECS-DoT Chip and AIoT Platform
    Nanoveu Secures $2 Million to Fast-Track Commercial Launch of ECS-DoT Chip and AIoT Platform
    • News

  • Archer Unlocks Cryogenic Sensor Breakthrough for Quantum Computing
    Archer Unlocks Cryogenic Sensor Breakthrough for Quantum Computing
    • News

  • EGL Secures $1.9M PFAS Plant Contract as Demand for Clean-Up Technologies Surges
    EGL Secures $1.9M PFAS Plant Contract as Demand for Clean-Up Technologies Surges
    • News

  • RocketDNA Secures Major Aerial Tech Contract with Vault Minerals at WA Gold Site
    RocketDNA Secures Major Aerial Tech Contract with Vault Minerals at WA Gold Site
    • News

  • BirdDog Boosts Buy-Back Offer by 40% Ahead of ASX Delisting Vote
    BirdDog Boosts Buy-Back Offer by 40% Ahead of ASX Delisting Vote
    • News

  • AML3D Launches High-Tech U.S. Facility to Power Submarine Supply Chain
    AML3D Launches High-Tech U.S. Facility to Power Submarine Supply Chain
    • News

  • Vection Enters $520K Agritech Deal to Build AI-Powered Farming Robot
    Vection Enters $520K Agritech Deal to Build AI-Powered Farming Robot
    • News

  • Unith Achieves Strong Growth in Platform Usage and Strategic Partnerships
    Unith Achieves Strong Growth in Platform Usage and Strategic Partnerships
    • News

  • FBR and Samsung Heavy Industries Execute Engineering Service Agreement for Shipbuilding Automation Project
    FBR and Samsung Heavy Industries Execute Engineering Service Agreement for Shipbuilding Automation Project
    • News

  • Bioxyne Lifts FY2025 Revenue Forecast as Psychedelics and Pharma Push Gains Pace
    Bioxyne Lifts FY2025 Revenue Forecast as Psychedelics and Pharma Push Gains Pace
    • News

The institutional advantage in placements and share purchase plans (SPPs)

  • In Opinion
  • June 24, 2020
  • Sam Green
The institutional advantage in placements and share purchase plans (SPPs)

Recent economic and stock market disruption brought about by COVID-19 has led many listed companies to tap their shareholders for additional funds. This process usually occurs in the form of an institutional placement, followed by a retail share purchase plan.

The institutional placement usually occurs over the course of one or two days, allowing financial institutions to purchase newly issued stock, usually at a material discount, directly from the company.

This is usually followed by the retail share purchase plan component of the capital raise, where retail shareholders are also offered newly issued shares, usually at the lower of the institutional price or 5-day volume weighted average price at the end of the offer.

It may initially seem like the advantage of the offers lie with the retail shareholder, after all, he or she either gets in at the institutional placement price or an even better price if that share prices falls during the offer period.

However, the reality is that the majority of advantages lie with those who can participate in the institutional placement, here’s why:

Larger offer sizes

The institutional placements usually are much larger in scale than the subsequent retail SPPs, allowing the institutions access to far more discounted shares than a retail investor; meaning that they enjoy most of the value differential between the issue discount and the stock market price. It also means that retail shareholders will see their proportional ownership of the company diluted by the newly issued shares.

Offer completes immediately and before retail SPP

The institutional placements in recent memory have occurred immediately before the retail SPPs, allowing the institutions first bite at the cherry. The institutional placement also concludes within a day or two of its announcement; allowing the institutions to capitalise on a discount far earlier than an SPP participant, be exposed for far less time and potential price movement, and immediately sell or short the equivalent amount of stock to lock in a ‘stag’ profit, even if the shares are not issued until the retail SPP shares.

Basically, an institution can immediately lock in the profit on their (larger amount of) discounted shares, while retail SPP participants usually have to wait around a month for the offer to end and up to an additional week to learn of their allocation – which gives the share price greater time to fall below their purchase price and doesn’t allow them to hedge of their exposure in advance.

If the share price falls off during the retail share purchase plan, there is a chance that the retail offer participants get a better price than the institutions. However, by this time the institutions could certainly have disposed of the exposure if they wanted or needed to. Additionally, if the share price falls at the end of the SPP period and trades below both the institutional offer price and the 5-day VWAP, the retail shareholder will end up paying more for the stock than the current market share price.

It can still pay for retail shareholders to participate in the share purchase plan, just because the institutions have some advantages, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad deal for retail investors. During the recent round of new share issues, all the retail SPPs across the ASX/S&P 200 index that I can remember would have generated positive value for participating shareholders. It still pays to consider however, that while your deal might be good – the insto deal is usually better.

 

  • About
  • Latest Posts
Sam Green
Sam Green is the Portfolio Manager at Emerald Financial, whilst also being an Equities and Derivatives expert for his clients at TradersCircle.
Latest posts by Sam Green (see all)
  • XJO to rise despite slight US pullback - August 30, 2024
  • Markets jump strongly higher - July 29, 2024
  • US shares drop with tech selling, XJO to continue lower - July 25, 2024
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • Opinion

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • About
  • Latest Posts
Sam Green
Sam Green is the Portfolio Manager at Emerald Financial, whilst also being an Equities and Derivatives expert for his clients at TradersCircle.
Latest posts by Sam Green (see all)
  • XJO to rise despite slight US pullback - August 30, 2024
  • Markets jump strongly higher - July 29, 2024
  • US shares drop with tech selling, XJO to continue lower - July 25, 2024

Login or register for free to access unlimited reading

Register Now!
  • About
  • Latest Posts
Sam Green
Sam Green is the Portfolio Manager at Emerald Financial, whilst also being an Equities and Derivatives expert for his clients at TradersCircle.
Latest posts by Sam Green (see all)
  • XJO to rise despite slight US pullback - August 30, 2024
  • Markets jump strongly higher - July 29, 2024
  • US shares drop with tech selling, XJO to continue lower - July 25, 2024
  • News

  • Opinion

  • Satire

  • About

  • Contact Us

  • Subscribe

The content published on this website is solely for general information purposes and is not to be construed as financial advice. Should you seek financial advice you should consult with an appropriately qualified person. Opinions expressed on this site are subject to change without notice and The Sentiment who produced this content is under no obligation to keep the information current. The Sentiment, affiliated companies & associates may have a conflict of interest with companies discussed on the website due to commercial arrangements, for example they may be shareholders in the company, be engaged by them to assist in investor communications or receive commission/brokerage for funds raised.

Copyright © 2020 The Sentiment. All rights reserved.
Subscribe

Enter your email address below to subscribe to The Sentiment’s weekly newsletter, highlighting the top news, research, opinion and satire articles shaping ASX investor sentiment.

The Sentiment respects your privacy and will not spam you. View our privacy policy here.