A local family business is facing a dilemma. Dotties Grocery has been a landmark company in a small city located in the United States. Over the past 45 years, what began as a single fresh fruit and vegetable store, has now become a full-service grocery store chain with many stores throughout the city. Dotties is incorporated with only 7 shareholders, which are all family members. They are faced with a decision on how to raise much needed capital to maintain its current business operations and to allow the possibility of growth in the future. The family believes it needs an additional $23 million dollars. This sum is too large for a bank line of credit and no one in the family has additional funding to invest into the company. The family is considering other alternatives.

One alternative is to publicly issue debt (corporate bonds), the other alternative is to issue common stock to the public. Using your expertise in financial management, you have been asked by the management team of Dotties Grocery to conduct an analysis of the current situation and provide a summary of your recommendations. In your summary you must:

Superior papers will explain the following elements:

Provide a narrative about the impact of issuing stock to the public. The narrative will include the topics of loss of control of the company and the requirements that future financial statements will be available to the public.

Provide a narrative about the impact of issuing debt to the public. The narrative will include the topics of a potential loss of the company if debt covenants are breached and the requirements that future financial statements will be available to the public.

Provide a narrative on the initial public offering (IPO) process using at least four research sources in addition to the textbook material. The narrative of the IPO process steps should include the:

role of an investment banker

deal negotiation

preparation and submission to the SEC of the registration statement

SEC approval

setting an issue date

setting an issue price