Building the Book

The indication of interest book for a public offering—usually just called the “book”—is the listing of investors with an interest in buying stock in the offering. Once the allocations among the underwriters in the syndicate have been made, each underwriter attempts to identify potential investors and market its allotment of shares to them. The sales force may market to existing or prospective customers. In a book-building context, marketing efforts occur before the issue has been priced, and the per-share price is normally stated as a target range.

For most offerings, institutional customers are a primary ta