Roadshow

Over one to two weeks management meets institutions in the major financial centres, in group presentations and one to one meetings, with the one to ones reserved for the investors expected to anchor the book.

It is where investors assess the people as much as the numbers, since they are buying into management's ability to run a public company. A chief executive who cannot handle sceptical questioning is a real problem, which is why rehearsal is extensive.

Orders arrive during the process and build the book that sets the price, so the roadshow is simultaneously marketing and price discovery.

Pilot fishing and early look meetings often precede it, testing the story with a handful of investors weeks earlier so the bank knows whether the intended range is realistic before committing to it publicly.