Investment banks will also take out tombstone advertisements to announce a private placement of securities for a particular client or to high-light their role in a strategic transaction such as a corporate merger or acquisition. Private equity firms will place a tombstone to announce the launch of a new fund or to notify of a significant closing. Financial firms will sometimes use a tombstone to announce a significant personnel change.
Tombstones are most commonly used to announce newly registered securities by an investment banking firm. In this instance, the tombstone will contain details about the issue including the name of the issuing company, the security type, the offering price, the total value of the offering, and the names of the investment bankers associated with the deal.
In addition, there is an established protocol to the format of this type of tombstone. Specifically, there is a particular order in which the investment bankers are listed in the tombstone. Listed at the top are the lead and colead investment banks for the issue.
They are followed by the "major bracket" investment banks, an industry determined categorization that is based upon reputation and national focus. Next in line are the "mezzanine bracket" investment banks, which are typically smaller firms that operate nationally. Finally, at the bottom of the list are the regional investment banks.
 |
| Tombstone |
