An “at-the-market” (“ATM”) offering is an offering of securities into an existing trading market for the securities at a price or prices related to the then-market price of the securities. ATM offerings are continuous offerings, and provide issuers with a flexible way to raise modest amounts of capital with minimal market impact, at a low cost and with limited management involvement. ATM offerings are often utilized by issuers that have a frequent need to raise capital, whether to repay debt, fund the purchase price for a small acquisition or otherwise fund operations. Issuers that would like additional capital-raising flexibility during the pandemic related downturn have been establishing ATM programs as one more financing tool. In this What's the Deal? guide, we provide an overview of ATM offerings, as well as discuss features of ATM programs, such as ATMs with a forward sale component.
