A tombstone is a type of print notice that is most often used in the

financial industry Financial services are the economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, accountancy companies, ...

to formally announce a particular transaction, such as an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

or placement of

stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...

of a company. The Securities Act of 1933 required the publication of the tombstone advertisement to be printed in a newspaper and provide the barest of information on the transaction as the last step in the financial deal. This public disclosure is done in a form that lists the participants in a specified order according to their role in

underwriting Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liabilit ...

or brokering the transaction. The name of this disclosure comes from the appearance of advertisement used, a ' tombstone ad', so called because the simple, centered text style with large amounts of whitespace and few if any images or other adornments make them resemble some of the

tombstones A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. It is traditional for burials in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, among others. In most cases, it has the deceased's name, ...

found in cemeteries. Additional information such as "photographs of investment properties or descriptions of the tax benefits of investments" are not allowed in financial tombstones. However, another view is that in the 19th century, financial notices were published in newspapers alongside birth and death notices. Tombstone ads are considered by the SEC to "condition the market" for the securities, and thus are an offer even though the notice may not specifically describe the transaction. In

public offering A public offering is the offering of securities of a company or a similar corporation to the public. Generally, the securities are to be listed on a stock exchange. In most jurisdictions, a public offering requires the issuing company to publish a ...

s, investment bankers can sell securities to investors only by means of a prospectus that has been filed with the SEC; therefore, tombstones announcing such transactions have a notice that they are "not an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy". Among financial firms, and more specifically, the investment banking community, the term "tombstone" may also refer to a trophy or deal tombstone, known as a

deal toy A deal toy (also deal gift, lucite tombstone or financial tombstone) is a customized memento or gift that is intended to mark and commemorate the closing of a business deal in finance or investment banking. These plaques or other types of trophie ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tombstone (Financial Industry) Securities (finance)

See also

References