In all IPO exercises, there are various parties and professional advisors who form the IPO project team to ensure all compliances are met and to drive the company towards a successful IPO eventually. This article will provide the general list of parties who are required to be in the team:-
- Management Team: This is a prerequisite that the management team is fully involved and committed in the whole IPO process from start till end. They will need to make certain decisions along the way, such as group restructuring, and implementing certain operational and financial shortfalls where identified.
- Project Manager: This party will most probably be the party who carried out the Pre-IPO Diagnostic. The function is basically to coordinate and orchestrate the IPO team towards a successful IPO. Their role is to assist the company to identify and implement systems and processes to meet the listing requirements, and also on the group restructuring. Further, they are also required to assist the other professional advisors to prepare the submission documents.
- Tax advisor: Primarily to assist the shareholders and company to achieve the highest tax benefits, pre and post IPO.
- Merchant banker: To endorse the prospectus and offer documents, and liaise with the regulators. They are normally the underwriters too.
- Reporting accountants: To perform the financial due diligence on the company’s historical records, as well as the projections.
- Legal advisors: To perform the legal due diligence, and drafting of legal documents.
- Public relations: To market the company and IPO exercise, mainly to the public.
- Industry experts: In certain industries where none of the professional above have an expert knowledge, such as natural resources, medical, property development etc, technical experts in that field will also need to be engaged to prepare an expert report on the subject matter.
