If they buy all the shares offered to them, they will own about 20 percent.

An additional 180 million shares offered in Italy.

In particular, preferred shares offer a fixed dividend, like bonds and unlike ordinary shares.

From an investor's point of view, shares offer the potential for higher returns and capital gains if the company does well.

The shares are usually, but not necessarily, offered to the public.

The shares offered today were sold by the trustee of the company's 1984 employee stock ownership plan.

At many companies, restricted shares also offer a steady dividend stream.

Silicon Valley has popularized many ideas, not the least of which is the stock option - shares offered to employees at a set, usually discounted, price.

Typical terms of an underwriting require the underwriter to subscribe for any shares offered but not taken up by shareholders.

Western investment bankers say that buying shares in privatized companies can offer huge gains but also large risks.