Instrument allotment = a type of corporate actions

In terms of finance, an allotment is a method of distributing securities to investors, when an issue has been oversubscribed. At the end of the subscription period, the demand for a new issue can exceed the number of shares or bonds being issued. In such cases, the underwriting bank allots the securities with the approval of the issuer, either by lottery or on the basis of a formula. An allotment formula usually takes into account the issuer's preferred target investor groups.

Subscription period is the period of time during which investors can submit purchase orders for a new issue.

During an IPO, this is the number of shares granted to each participating underwriting firm that they are permitted to sell. Remaining surpluses are then given to other firms which have won the bid for the right to sell the IPO.

An initial public offering (IPO) is the first sale of a corporation's common shares to public investors. The main purpose of an IPO is to raise capital for the corporation. While IPO's are effective at raising capital, they also impose heavy legal compliance and reporting requirements. The term only refers to the first public issuance of a company's shares; any later public issuance of shares is referred to as a Secondary Market Offering.

IPO's generally involve one or more investment banks as "underwriters". The company offering its shares, known as the "issuer", enters a contract with the underwriters to sell its shares to the public. The underwriters then approach investors with offers to sell these shares.