Traditional Deals: Share Allocation

When WRH+Co is offered shares of stock by other underwriters, we do not control the overall allocation or the offering price and therefore cannot use the OpenIPO auction process.

In these cases, we have created our own method of distributing these shares on a basis that:

1. is equitable.
2. makes sense for the company going public.

At the offered company’s request, we may offer shares to people who have an established relationship with the company that is going public; this could include important customers, suppliers, business partners or advisors.

If there are shares left over, we will allocate shares to both individual and institutional customers.

Individual customers requesting shares are divided into two groups:

1. Long-Term Account Holders. First priority is given to WR Hambrecht + Co account holders with a history of investing in IPOs for the long-term, which we feel is in the best interests of companies going public.
2. New Account Holders. Second priority is given to account holders based on how long they have had an account.