At-the-Market ECM Offerings

A number of our clients have recently asked us about at-the-market (ATM) ECM offerings. Though not a new IB product, usage of ATMs remained strong in 2016 while the broader ECM market collapsed, and has grown further in 2017 while the ECM market recovered. Fees for ATMs are relatively low: a typical small-cap ATM deal might pay managers 3% over several years vs. an underwritten secondary offering paying 6% all at once. However, ATMs can be powerful relationship-builders, and often put the manager first in line for underwritten deals and block trades. Most notably, Cantor Fitzgerald has leveraged its ATM relationships to great success in the last year. Cantor has historically been the top small-cap Healthcare ATM manager, and in the last year, won 6 of its 10 largest underwritten Healthcare ECM mandates from ATM clients. With ECM now in full-scale recovery, other ATM leaders should be able to follow a similar path to market share growth.

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