The term Merchant Banking has its origin in the trading methods of countries in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century when trade-taking place was financed by bill of exchange drawn by merchanting houses

It is not enough if the Company takes all steps to comply with the statutory regulations. In the growing competitive market, aggressive sales campaign is also called for. Now a days, the investors are bombarded with advertisements through all sorts of media such as T.V., Radio, Newspapers, Brochures, Direct Mailing etc. It is, therefore, essential to plan a marketing strategy to reach and convince the prospective investors.

For smooth marketing of the Issue, Lead Manager has to first identify the target market segments for the offering, whether it be retail investors, wholesale investors or institutional investors. This should be followed by targeting the regions where the management can expect maximum number of subscriptions. If a Company is operating in a particular region, it is better to concentrate on that region only, where its name is popularly known. Mood, of the market should also be gauged before launching an Issue. If the market is going downwards, even offering from a good company may not attract good response. Pricing of instruments should be done after assessing expectations of investors from the Issue. Pricing of the Issue also influences design of capital structure. Final instrument should be made attractive by offering some unique features. There are many ways of doing it. Some of these are offering safety net, making terms of payment attractive, offering multiple options for conversion, attaching warrants, etc.

Underwriters, Brokers/Sub-Brokers, Fund arrangers should be mobilised with great efforts to make the offering a success. At the same time, offer document for issue should be educative and purposive for the retail investors and should contain relevant information which will be statutorily and otherwise required for providing maximum information. Institutional investors and high net worth investors should also be provided with detailed research on the project specifying its uniqueness and the advantage which it scores over other existing or upcoming projects in the similar field.