Some bankers have wondered whether investors saying they would buy the shares at those various prices had subsequently reneged on their offers once they saw the float was losing momentum.
Investors will sometimes indicate that they want a far larger amount of stock than they actually require.
This is because if an IPO proves popular during the investor roadshow, their allocation of shares is likely to get squeezed down. The strategy is, if they go in early with a big offer to support the float, they hope the bankers will reward them by squeezing their allocation less.
However, if the float looks like it is failing to win support, they can always scale back their original order.
One IPO banker not on the Deliveroo ticket explained that investors will often place a big order to show support but quietly tell the bookrunner that they really only want a smaller piece.
The art of the IPO banker is to work out how much of the demand signalled is real - known in the trade as “allocable demand” and how much is gamesmanship.
“You may have the book covered three times, but real, allocable demand could just be one times,” he explained.
He said traditional funds tend to play fewer such games than tech or hedge funds, which can make floats like Deliveroo’s hard to price.
