Syndicate Member: Its Meaning, Role in IPO & Types

Key Highlights

• A syndicate member is a participant in a financial consortium formed to collectively handle complex transactions, like underwriting securities or executing large projects.

• Syndicate members play pivotal roles in Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) by underwriting and distributing newly issued stocks or bonds, conducting due diligence, setting pricing, and ensuring regulatory compliance.

• Syndicate members are essential for due diligence, pricing, marketing, distributing securities, ensuring legal compliance, risk-sharing, capital access, regulatory compliance, and maintaining market liquidity.

Syndicate Member Meaning

A syndicate member is a person or company who is a member of a syndicate, which is a group created to work on a specific financial transaction. Underwriting or distribution of securities such as stocks and bonds, loans, or investments in significant projects such as infrastructure development or real estate enterprises are typical of these activities.

Syndicates are short-term organisations of financial institutions, investment banks, or other companies formed to ease complex financial transactions. Syndicates' principal objective is to share the risks and responsibilities connected with these transactions, ensuring their effective completion.

Types of Syndicates

In an IPO, there are many sorts of syndicate members who often perform similar but critical responsibilities for the IPO's success:

Lead Manager: As a syndicate manager, the lead manager's responsibility is to market and distribute the new issue. This syndicate member is in charge of finalizing all issuance details and negotiating with the issuer to reach a more advantageous deal. The lead manager will frequently split earnings with other banks that help promote the issue to their clients.

Co-Manager: A syndicate is a collection of investment banks that promote but on a lower scale than lead managers. Co-managers have less power over structuring and pricing, but they can advise issuers during this process.

Book-Running Lead Manager: A book-running lead manager is someone who acts as both a lead manager and a co-manager at the same time. This person or company is in charge of establishing financial records for sales, providing information about distribution (when the shares will be available), and possibly organizing an underwriting syndicate (or group of investors) to provide additional assistance and guidance throughout the process.

Role of Syndicate Members in IPO

• One of the primary roles of syndicate members is to underwrite securities.

• When a company decides to issue new stocks or bonds, it may seek the assistance of a syndicate to ensure the successful placement of these securities in the market.

• Syndicate members commit to purchasing a portion of the newly issued securities at a predetermined price.

• By doing so, they provide the issuer with the necessary capital and share the risk associated with selling these securities to investors.

• Syndicate members are responsible for distributing the securities to a wide range of investors.

• They leverage their expertise and market presence to ensure that the securities are sold to a diverse set of investors, reducing the concentration of risk.

• Due Diligence, Syndicate members conduct thorough due diligence on the issuer and the securities being offered.

• By conducting due diligence, syndicate members ensure that the securities being offered are attractive to investors and comply with regulatory requirements.

• Syndicate members play a crucial role in determining the pricing of securities.

• They work with the issuer to set the initial offering price and may adjust it based on market demand and conditions.

• Syndicate members ensure that all legal and regulatory requirements related to the issuance of securities are met.

• Syndicate members share the risks associated with the transaction.

• Allocation of Securities: Syndicate members decide how the allocated securities will be distributed among investors.

• Post-Issuance Support, After the issuance of securities, syndicate members may provide ongoing support to the issuer.

What is Syndication Risk?

When an underwriter or syndicate members of a fixed-income instrument are unable to place the full issue with investors, this is referred to as syndication risk. This can be a huge challenge for businesses looking to issue substantial sums of debt. For example, if Country A is attempting to issue $100 billion in debt, even the best efforts may fail to locate enough willing buyers to purchase all of it at a reasonable price. Underwriters may need to take back part of the debt on their balance sheets in such instances before they may sell it at a loss later on.

This scenario may appear unthinkable, but it is prevalent in the financial world. The impact of this type of circumstance varies depending on the amount of debt involved and whether or not other market factors (such as an economic downturn) are present.

If an underwriter returns too much-unsold debt to its clients over time, its balance sheet may become unsustainable, if not insolvent. Similarly, other conditions (such as another recession) may prohibit them from promptly selling off those securities before they require more funds.

When an underwriter or syndicate members of a fixed-income instrument are unable to place the full issue with investors, this is referred to as syndication risk. This can be a huge challenge for businesses looking to issue substantial sums of debt. For example, if Country A is attempting to issue $100 billion in debt, even the best efforts may fail to locate enough willing buyers to purchase all of it at a reasonable price. Underwriters may need to take back part of the debt on their balance sheets in such instances before they may sell it at a loss later on.

Conclusion

A syndicate member is extremely important in the IPO process. Because the success of an Initial Public Offering is heavily reliant on the activities of the members, most companies opt to designate them only after much thought.