Security Offerings

The Commission's statistical series on primary security offerings includes all primary security issues registered with the Commission for immediate cash sale to the public pursuant to the requirements of Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933, or exempted from registration pursuant to Regulation A. 1/ It also includes securities publicly offered in interstate commerce by issuers exempt from the registration provisions of the Securities Act and information collected by the Commission on certain private placements as described below. Excluded from the statistical series are: issues of less than $100,000; debt securities with maturities of less than one year; secondary offerings; non-cash offerings; issues not defined as securities under Section 2(1) of the Securities Act of 1933; domestic government securities; offerings of non-profit and/or charitable groups; securities offered only on an intrastate basis; employee stock plans; investment company issues other than closed-end shares; intracorporate securities transactions; and sales to foreign purchasers. Issues registered and later withdrawn are excluded from these security offerings data but are included and shown separately in the Total Effective Registrations Table (M-410).

The source of data for security offerings are the registration statements filed with the Commission by the issuers. For some issues, the offering data may fall in a different month than the effective date. Prior to January 1977, this difference led to incomparability between the offering tables and the Total Effective Registrations table. Beginning with January 1977, issues have been included in the offering tables as of the date of effective registration.

Information on interstate public offerings of corporate securities exempt from SEC registration requirements, which is shown separately in Table M-310, is obtained from publications of Moody's Investors Service, Inc. Most of the securities included are railroad equipment trust certificates, mortgage-backed bonds of savings and loan associations, or bonds which are guaranteed by or issued under the authority of the United States Government.

Data on private placements are collected through a Commission survey of 39 life insurance companies on a monthly basis and 9 more on a quarterly or semi-annual basis, and (prior to January 1977) by reports of private placements filed with the Commission on Form 8-K. Life insurance companies surveyed by the Commission reported assets of $283.8 billion as of December 31, 1978, representing 73 percent of all life insurance companies assets. Only those private placement commitments which are actually taken down are included in the statistics. The surveyed companies report total placements of each issue. No representation is made that the private placement investments of the reporting life insurance companies approximate private placement activity as a whole in the United States.

The offering tables distinguish between corporate offerings and foreign government offerings. Corporate offerings include issues by non-corporate business enterprises, such as limited partnerships. The foreign government classification includes offerings of foreign governments, foreign government agencies, and foreign government-owned enterprises.

1/ As of September 18, 1978, the aggregate amount of securities which may be sold in an offering made

The industry classifications used in the offering tables are self-explanatory. The communication group includes telephone utilities. The commercial and other industry group comprises argiculture, construction, wholesale and retail trade, and all service activities other than financial services.

The security types used in the offering tables are straight bonds, convertible bonds, preferred stocks and common stocks. The convertible bond category includes only those issues which are convertible into common stock. The preferred stock group includes convertible preferred stock. The common stock category includes common shares issued by closed-end investment companies, as well as securities issued by non-corporate businesses, such as certificates of participation and shares of beneficial interest, and other equity securities such as voting trust certificates and certificates of deposit for stock. Depository receipts are not included in the offerings statistics.

All figures are subject to revision. The private placements statistics will be revised quarterly. Data on public issues will be revised annually. Revised figures will be indicated by an "r".