Companies making initial public offerings of securities must file registration statements with the SEC. Registrations statements under the Securities Act of 1933 for domestic issuers are on form types beginning S- and F- for foreign issuers. Offering documents, known as prospectuses are also filed with the SEC. Prospectuses are usually part of a registration statement or may be supplemental documents. EDGAR designates prospectuses as form types 424, 425 and other forms reflecting the rule under which the prospectus was filed.

From the SEC. Researching Public Companies Through EDGAR.

The prospectus is the key document filed as part of the registration process. The company first files a preliminary prospectus called a "red-herring." After the registration is approved, the company files a final prospectus that includes the number of shares offered and the share price.

The prospectus will include:

• information about the securities to be registered

          including use of proceeds of the sale, risk factors, offering price and plan of distribution

• information about the registrant

          including description of business, financial statements, list of management and directors,and security ownership of benficial owners

For details about a specific IPO filing or to get lists of recent IPO's, use one of the following sources:

DealBook from the New York Times