Increased Transparency in security issuance!

HURRAY!!! Finally it seems that there will be increased transparency in security issue process. This should reduce information asymmetries and result in less negative market reactions to SEOs and less IPO underpricing.

From Investment Dealers' Digest:

*"The Wall Street equity underwriting process, which sets prices and allocations when companies go to market to raise capital, may seem arcane and obscure to outsiders. But thanks to enhanced technological tools, it's now possible to go behind the curtain-demystifying the process...."

*"Issuers are clearly driving the trend. "One of the ways you ensure that there is an even playing field out there, and that the actual price discovery is fair, is to give issuers transparency," says John Heskett, vp of finance at the newly public Huntsman Corp. "And that's what we asked underwriters to do for us."

*"The lure of a view into a book build is not something all Wall Street firms are crowing over. In fact, it is a key example in the fight over deploying enhanced technology. On one hand, an issuer like Huntsman was aware of all the circumstances during the road show, not just those an underwriter might discuss while tossing irrelevant items aside. Conversely, being up-to-date may lead issuers to question why they're paying underwriters such a hefty fee."

Read the entire article here. It is by Colleen Marie O'Connor.