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Glite Dictionary
🛟 Staying on water 💹 Issuing shares 🛁 Relaxation treatment
floatation

floatation

7.8
Selling a company's shares or bonds to the public for the first time
  • noun
  • /floʊˈteɪʃən/
  • UK
translation icon : salida a bolsa
  • The company's floatation on the stock market allowed it to raise millions for expansion.

Examples

  • Investors were excited about the floatation of the new tech startup, believing it would revolutionize the industry.

  • After the floatation of his business, the entrepreneur quickly became one of the richest people in the region.

  • The future of ATMs: The recent lifting of sanctions and floatation of the currency has sparked hope that life for the plastic-toting traveler could soon be easier.

    Blog text (6)

  • These include the lifting of sanctions, the release of political prisoners, and the floatation of the Myanmar currency, which is currently trading at about 850 kyats (pronounced "chat") to the U.S. dollar.

    Blog text (6)

Synonyms

IPO
vsfloatation
53 4.1

An event when a company sells shares to the public for the first time

is broader, it can finance via bonds as well as first share sales
initial public offering
vsfloatation
  • Specialized
8 5.3

The first time a company sells shares to the public on the stock market

is broader, also covers issuing bonds not only shares
initial offering
vsfloatation
  • Specialized
1 6.7

A company's first sale of shares to the public on a stock market

is narrower, focuses on stock sales not bond financing
flotation
vsfloatation
  • Specialized
1 7.5

Raising money for a company by selling shares to the public

is specific to the first time using public sales to raise funds

Surface Forms

floatation singular
floatations plural
flotations plural
flotation singular

Morphology

floatation = float (semi-transparent) = float + ation

The financial sense extends the basic verb 'to float' metaphorically (to float a company), so the morphology is regular but the meaning is specialized and may not be obvious to all learners.

Etymology

Floatation comes from the verb float, which means 'to be carried on the surface', and people used the image of things 'floating' to describe putting shares onto the market. So a company's floatation is when it sells shares or bonds to the public so they can be traded.