“The pause that refreshes.”

“Always the Real Thing.”

Still remember who frequently uses such slogans for their advertisement over the years?

Is there anybody in this world that doesn’t know about Coca Cola?

Probably, even the settlers at the wild areas of the Safari and the rest of the African nation got the taste of this famous carbonated drink that now counts 120 years and is still counting. Even the Eskimos, “polar bears”, and “penguins” are drinking ice cold Coca Cola despite of the extreme cold conditions on the North Pole (that is according to their television and billboard advertisements).

Coca Cola, or commonly know in different tongues as “Coke”, is the most famous and popular carbonated drink around the world. The Coca Cola Company (the corporate organization behind the manufacturing and distribution of Coca Cola drinks around the world and has its main headquarters situated in Atlanta, Georgia) was founded by Asa Candler. His legacy was continued by his successors and eventually made Coca Cola drinks as a major carbonated drink in the United States and later around the world.

Through the years, The Coca Cola Company introduced varieties of their soft drink products under the Coca Cola brand name. There you have the low calorie Diet Coke and the sweet and delicious Cherry Coke. It had gone different issues, such as the secret formula of Coke drink production (which allegedly contained trace amounts of cocaine, which was removed when health regulations were tightened in 1902), various negative effects of Coca Cola drinks to the body, and commercial rivalry with other carbonated drink manufacturer such as Pepsi.

Nevertheless, Coca Cola had gone through different issues yet they stand still and prove to be one of the longest running and well established carbonated drink manufacturers and distributors not only in the United States but also around the world.

However, there is one thing that we have missed throughout the course of Coca Cola history. And that is, they have also undergone the initial public offering just like any other major and multinational companies around the world.

Initial public offering involves the first or initial sale of the corporation’s common shares to the public in the hope of raising additional revenues for the corporation. If you will apply in on the case of Coca Cola, the worldwide manufacturing and distribution of their carbonated drink products is the result of their IPO, which happened in 1919. A single share of Coca Cola is worth $40 dollars, yet the market value of their shares suddenly crashed to $19 per common share in 1920 (when they have undergone a secondary market offering).

Despite of such crash in the market value of their common shares, Coca Cola managed to survive and extend operations to different regions around the world, particularly within the Asian and European regions. Different corporate entities later on affiliated with Coca Cola to further boost their revenue generation capabilities. However, just like their mother company, different Coca Cola affiliate companies have also undergone IPO, one of which is the Coca Cola Icecek, the affiliate company of Coca Cola in Turkey.

Coca Cola Icecek, which had a 59% share of the local carbonated drinks market in Turkey in 1993 and has an average annual turnover of one billion lira ($740 million), had plans of going into the public. In fact, they have asked permission from the Capital Markets Board (the central regulatory agency for IPO) for an IPO worth 20.16 percent of their total company shares. According to Tuncay Ozilhan, the chairman of the Turkish Coca Cola unit, they hoped for a “green light signal” from the Board at the end of May or start of June 2006 to launch their IPO, which was postponed for several times already.

In 2004, Anadolu Efes, the owner of the 45.6 percent share of Coca Cola Icecek, had appointed Credit Suisse First Boston to revive the IPO, yet it was postponed twice.

Whatever happens to the IPO filed by its affiliate companies around the world, Coca Cola will always be the soft drink we want to stay in our refrigerators.

Going public or not?

That is one question that pops out of the minds of different corporate directors and executives of growing companies. The consistent growth of their operation translates to revenues.

In order to maintain the flow of revenues, different corporate directors and executives must sustain the growth of the company by infusing additional investment.

Securing a corporate loan is a good idea, but undergoing an initial public offering is probably the best idea that corporate directors and executives can arrive into. Why get the company into debt when the company’s assets such as common shares could be used to raise additional capital that will sustain the company’s continuous growth?

IPO or initial public offering is the first or initial sale of a company’s common shares to the public, which is why it is also referred to “going public”.

The most convincing reason why many companies are going public is because it is the most convenient and probably the safest way to raise capital that will be used to sustain operational expenditures.

However, there are still some “strings attached” to this process. Though it’s other reasons such as easy access to much needed capital, increased employee compensation and liquidity due to additional funding, prestige, and publicity are compelling, there are still pointers that you must consider when deciding if initial public offering is the right option of for you to take.

Remember what happened to Netscape when it went public in April 1994? They became the prestigious computer application company that rose above its competitor, with its actual market value reaching $1 billion. However, the executives lost control of the company and even the company itself, which resulted to the selling of the company’s interest to America On Line (AOL). Many investors think that they can capitalize from the revenues generated through IPO, and yet what happened is that the company itself suffered.

Before getting into an IPO process, make sure that your company is “sexy enough” for investors. In other words, your marketing ideas (the industry and the products or services that you offer to the public) are extremely popular to the consumer, which makes it very appealing to the investors. That is why IPO is not ideal for starting and not well known companies because the risk of losing any infused investment due to unpopularity of its marketing ideas is present.

Better assess your marketing ideas first before jumping into IPO.

Do you really understand why you are going into public? You must look the revenues that will be generated on IPO as an “emergency fund” and not as a “luxurious fund”. If the company’s present financial bucket could still sustain the growth of the company and the presence of an explosive growth needs to be seen, there is no reason to go in public.

It will just create little benefits to the executives as well as to the future shareholders.

Do you have the necessary funds that you will spend when going public? Keep in mind that there are corresponding expenditures in each stage along the process. For instance, you must have a well established business plan in order to answer the disclosure document questions, which is an essential part in convincing investors with regards to the viability of your IPO.

Creating a well established business plan alone will cost you as much as $20,000.

Is the initial public offering the best option that you can choose? It requires careful assessment and evaluation of various factors. Do not be attracted by fame and publicity-it can easily kill you.