IPOs & Share Offers

Browse our current and recent work on capital raisings and initial public offers across all industries, sectors and varying sizes.

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What is an IPO or Share Offer?

An offering refers to when a company issues or sells a security. The most common form is an initial public offering (IPO), when a company’s stock is made available for purchase by the public. It can also be used in the context of an already listed company seeking to raise equity capital by offering new shares to a number of selected investors, referred to as a placement offer.

Receiving a Prospectus

Receiving a prospectus

To initiate an IPO for equity capital, a company must create a detailed prospectus and submit it to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). This document should encompass essential information for investors to make informed judgments about investing in the company. The prospectus ensures transparency and regulatory compliance, fostering a conducive environment for IPOs.

Taking applications

The company selects recipients for its shares, which may include customers, institutional investors, or the general public. To apply for shares, eligible individuals can complete the prospectus application form or use their participating broker in the IPO.

Share allocations

After receiving applications, the company and its advisers will confirm allocations. An oversubscribed IPO occurs when applications exceed available shares. This may result in a 'scale back,' where your application could receive fewer, or no shares than initially requested.

Company listing

After making allocations and receiving application funds, the new shares are officially 'listed' on the share market. Post-listing, the company's shares become tradable, subject to market dynamics, with prices influenced by supply, demand, and market conditions.

Post listing rights issues

A 'rights issue' occurs when a listed company aims to raise extra capital by providing new shares to current shareholders. These additional shares are offered based on a predetermined ratio, like one for every ten held. Typically, rights issues come with a discount on the current market price. Participation is voluntary for existing shareholders.

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Options

Options trading is a contract between two parties providing the taker (buyer) with the right, though not the obligation, to buy or sell a specific parcel of shares at a predetermined price on or before a specified date. On the ASX, two main types of options are traded: call options, granting the right to buy underlying shares, and put options, providing the right to sell underlying shares.   With options trading, you have the flexibility to navigate the market movements and capitalise on opportunities, as you can trade options over most ASX-listed companies.

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Advantages of options trading

Options trading offers several advantages, including effective risk management, using put options to hedge against potential share value declines. The flexibility of time to decide, provided by call and put options, allows holders to make informed choices before the option's expiry date. The ease of trading in and out of option positions enables investors to capitalise on market expectations without intending to exercise them. Leverage, though involving higher risk, allows for a higher return with a smaller initial investment, while the options market on the ASX facilitates portfolio diversification at a comparable or lower initial cost than direct share purchases. Additionally, options trading presents income generation opportunities, where shareholders can earn extra income by writing call options against their shares through a 'covered write' strategy.

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Disadvantages of options trading

Options trading comes with inherent disadvantages that may not suit everyone due to the elevated risk level. Time value erosion can negatively impact the price of purchased options, even if the underlying instrument moves favorably. The use of options as a leveraging tool can magnify losses, leading to rapid and significant financial downturns. Additionally, options have a finite life, necessitating close monitoring, frequent observation, and ongoing maintenance, making them a more demanding investment instrument. Investors should carefully consider these factors and assess their risk tolerance before engaging in options trading.

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Warrants

Warrants, a form of derivative traded on the ASX and Chi-X, offer investors a unique opportunity to trade underlying instruments like shares without direct ownership. Issued by banks, governments, or financial institutions, warrants come in various types, such as Self-Funding Instalments, trading warrants, Mini Warrants (MINIs), barrier warrants, commodity warrants, currency warrants, structured investment products, and endowment warrants.  Each warrant type may carry a different risk/return profile. Call warrants capitalise on upward price movements in the underlying instrument, while put warrants benefit from a downward trend.  

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News & Insights

Our banks analyst Nathan Lead recently had a close look at the valuations of the banks to see if their recent share price strength could be justified by fundamentals.

Assessing the Australian Banking Landscape

The major domestic banks are a core holding in the portfolios of many Australian investors. All four of them have outperformed the broader market since the start of 2024.

Our banks analyst Nathan Lead recently had a close look at the valuations of the banks to see if their recent share price strength could be justified by fundamentals. His conclusion was that it could not, particularly given an outlook for flat if not declining earnings (at least in the short term) driven by weaker net interest margins and higher costs. In his view, all four of the major Australian banks (and Bank of Queensland) are now trading above their intrinsic value, with CommBank and Bank of Queensland looking especially stretched. Dividend yields, so often an argument for investing in banks, are relatively low compared to history, as well as to their own term deposit rates and hybrid capital yields.

We think now is a good time to consider trimming some positions in the banks. Nathan does not have an ADD rating on any of the major banks, rating all of them HOLD except for Commonwealth Bank (REDUCE). With Bank of Queensland also rated REDUCE, the only bank Nathan sees as offering value at current levels is the smaller and arguably higher-risk Judo Capital (ADD).

Looking at the major banks in turn

ANZ (HOLD)

ANZ's Australian loan growth has outperformed its peers over the past 6 months. It is awaiting final approvals to complete the acquisition of Suncorp Bank. Our forecasts are above consensus for this year and next, but this may be because other analysts have not properly factored in the acquisition.

Commonwealth (REDUCE)

Trading at 2.7x book, it is the elevated valuation of CBA that keeps us on a REDUCE rating. It has been trying to protect margins during a period of intense home loan competition, which has resulted in its loan book growing less than others. CBA is the highest quality bank for our money, but we just think it's overpriced.

NAB (HOLD)

We have higher forecasts than the street because we think net interest income growth will be higher and loan losses lower than market expectations. We do expect cash earnings per share to decline this year, though, as costs increase.

Westpac (HOLD)

Westpac has been growing its Australian loan book at a similar rate to that of NAB (0.9x system). The shares have done well, which we believe stretches the valuation enough to make it hard to see further share price upside.

If you agree that the time is right to trim some of your positions in banks, you might want to think about alternative equities with broad exposure to the Australian economy and decent dividend yields. Within the insurance sector, consider QBE. Or within Diversified Financials, our analysts prefer GQG and WH Soul Pattinson.


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Explore how societal shifts are reshaping charitable giving and the expectations of Australian donors. Learn key insights from recent reports, including the importance of personalisation, transparency, and local focus. Discover strategies for NFPs to engage effectively and maximise impact in today's dynamic landscape.

We all know that the world is changing rapidly, and this has seen a flow-on impact on how society thinks about charitable giving. Social media, technological change and our day-to-day cost of living means that Not-for-Profits need to think differently to ensure they remain relevant to this new socially conscious generation and how Not-for-Profits invest their funds to continue to benefit their ongoing mission and values.

According to the 2020 Australian Communities Report, Australian givers are looking for a more personalised experience and to build relationships with organisations that they donate to or partner with. This may mean being practically involved in the organisation (volunteering) or even as simple as understanding the impact that their donation makes.

The 2019 Community Trends Report shows that Australians seek transparency and impact from charitable organisations. The key issue that Australians want transparency over is administration costs with seven in ten Australian givers rating this as an extremely important charity essential. Most believe that charity administration costs should comprise 20% or less of the organisation’s total revenue. For those younger Australian givers, having a website is also seen as an important part of the engagement and communication process when dealing with a charity.

The report also highlighted how much the cost of living is impacting on Australians’ ability to donate to charities. More than half of Australian givers agree that the cost of living and changes to housing prices have significantly or somewhat decreased their ability to give to charities.

Some key takeaways from these reports that NFPs should consider:

• Focus on local causes as Australians prefer to support charitable organisations with a local/national focus

• Consider how your charity can highlight a specific issue that people can directly donate to, rather than just raising awareness generally of an issue

• Ensure you can provide givers with a detailed breakdown of where donations are allocated

• Consider how you currently report on the impact donations are having on your charity’s goals and mission, can you improve or change the way you report?

• Simplify your organisation’s mission and ask “will this help achieve our purpose?”

• Where possible, invest in developing effective leaders and communicate leadership wins of the organisation to donors

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Investment Watch is a flagship product that brings together our analysts' view of economic and investment strategy themes, sector outlooks and best stock ideas for our clients.

Investment Watch is a quarterly publication produced by Morgans that delves into key insights for equity and economic strategy. This latest publication will cover;

  • Asset allocation – Migrating toward a risk-on strategy
  • Economic strategy – The view from the FED
  • Equity strategy – Preferencing cyclicals and small-caps
  • Updated Morgans Best Ideas
  • … and much more

Morgans clients receive exclusive insights such as access to our latest Investment Watch publication. Contact us today to begin your journey with Morgans.

      
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Preview

In recent months, debate has shifted away from ‘recession risks’ towards expectations for a ‘soft landing’ or even the possibility of a ‘no landing’ scenario for the US economy. Inflation has remained on a mild downward trend, there is better visibility on the US rate cutting cycle and China’s increased stimulus is reducing downside risks both domestically and globally.

These are all ingredients supporting the market’s migration toward a risk-on footing. We saw this in the February reporting season via a broad rotation from expensive defensives toward more economically leveraged cyclical industrials and small-caps. We discuss opportunities to put cash to work in global equities, real assets, and fixed income. In Australian equities we favour the healthcare, financials, retail, travel, resources and energy sectors, and we also call out several small-caps via our Best Ideas report.

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