What happens to your money between offer and settlement
The stages where a transaction can still stop, and what your position is at each one.
An accepted offer is not a completed purchase. Between the two sit several stages where the transaction can still end, and it is worth knowing where you stand at each.
Offer accepted
Terms are fixed. Nothing has moved. The transaction now enters compliance review and, in parallel, the approvals the company controls.
Awaiting issuer approval
The company decides whether to consent to the transfer. It may decline. If it does, the transaction ends and no ownership changes.
Right of first refusal
The company may instead buy the shares itself on your terms. The seller sells, you do not buy, and the price you negotiated is the price somebody else pays.
Documentation
Transfer agreements and any required consents are prepared and signed. Delays here are usually counsel's diary rather than a problem with the transaction.
Settlement and registration
Ownership changes when the company's register is updated. Not when the offer was accepted, not when documents were signed — when the register says so.
Throughout
Every stage change is recorded with its time and the reason, and the transaction page shows which stage you are in rather than a progress bar that only moves forward.