There are various terms like draft offer document, Red Herring prospectus, etc, what are they and how are they different from each other?

Terms used for offer documents vary depending upon the stage or type of the issue where the document is used. The terms used for offer documents are defined below:

Draft offer document is an offer document filed with SEBI for specifying changes, if any, in it, before it is filed with the Registrar of companies (ROCs). Draft offer document is made available in public domain including websites of SEBI, concerned stock exchanges, or concerned Merchant Banker for enabling public to give comments, if any, on the draft offer document.

Red herring prospectus is an offer document used in case of a book built public issue. It contains all the relevant details except that of price or number of shares being offered. It is filed with ROC before the issue opens.

Prospectus is an offer document in case of a public issue, which has all relevant details including price and number of shares or convertible securities being offered. This document is registered with ROC before the issue opens in case of a fixed price issue and after the closure of the issue in case of a book built issue.

Letter of offer is an offer document in case of a Rights issue of shares or convertible securities and is filed with Stock exchanges before the issue opens.

Abridged prospectus is an abridged version of offer document in public issue and is issued along with the application form of a public issue. It contains all the salient features from the prospectus.

Abridged letter of offer is an abridged version of the letter of offer. It is sent to all the shareholders along with the application form.

Shelf prospectus is a prospectus which enables an issuer to make a series of issues within a period of 1 year without the need of filing a fresh prospectus every time. This facility is available to public sector banks, scheduled banks and Public Financial Institutions.

Placement document is an offer document for the purpose of Qualified Institutional

Placement and contains all the relevant and material disclosures.