Market Stand-Off Agreement 市场锁定协议/限售协议

《美国证券法》并未明文对美股上市公司股票规定限售期。但实践中，出于稳定被投企业股价的目的，承销商通常会和被投企业股东签署《限售协议》，约定一定的限售期。IPO中，限售期通常约定为不超过180天。在登记权条款中，被投企业通常也会要求投资人作出承诺，非经承销商和/或被投企业同意或豁免，在限售期内对自己的股份进行限售。由于符合市场惯例，投资人通常也会接受。

A market standoff agreement prevents insiders of a company from selling their shares in the market for a specified number of days after an initial public offering (IPO). The market standoff term is generally 180 days but can vary from as little as 90 days to as much as one year. These agreements are also known as lock-up agreements. 以下为具体例句，可供参考：

例句1

Market standoff agreements allow the market to absorb the sale of all new shares of stock issued in an initial public offering (IPO). If insiders or others holding shares of the company can immediately begin to sell their holdings, it can flood the market and cause a precipitous decline in stock value. Generally, any issuance of company stock to employees will have a clause in the contract allowing the issuer to lock-up insider sales during an IPO. If not, insiders could challenge the prohibition on selling their shares.

市场锁定协议允许市场吸收首次公开发行(IPO)中发行的所有新股。如果内部人士或其他持有该公司股票的人可以立即开始出售他们的股份，这可能会淹没市场，并导致股票价值急剧下跌。一般来说，任何向员工发行的公司股票都会在合同中有一个条款，允许发行人在IPO期间锁定内部人士的销售。否则，内部人士可能会对出售其股票的禁令提出质疑。

例句2

Market standoff agreements are usually required by brokerage houses when they are hired to market and underwrite an IPO. The brokerage house gets a fee for underwriting the initial public sale. Also, they will generally provide the issuer a guarantee for the number of shares they will sell during the offering. This guarantee can place the underwriting bank at considerable risk. If the stock value plummets during the IPO, the brokerage could lose money.

当经纪公司受雇营销和承销IPO时，通常需要签订市场锁定协议。经纪公司从承销首次公开出售中获得费用。此外，他们通常会为发行人在发行期间出售的股票数量提供担保。这种担保会给承销银行带来相当大的风险。如果股票价值在IPO期间暴跌，经纪公司可能会亏损。

例句3

In recent years, market standoff agreements have been revised in light of new exchange rules governing brokerage research reports. Those rules prohibit an underwriter’s research department from publishing an analyst’s report or a buy/sell recommendation on the stock in question within the 15 days before and immediately after the expiration of a market standoff agreement.

近年来，根据管理经纪公司研究报告的新交易规则，限售协议已经得到修订。这些规定禁止承销商的研究部门在限售协议到期之前和之后的15天内发布分析师报告或对相关股票的买入/卖出建议。

例句4

If the company issuing the stock expects to be releasing an earnings report within that period, the market standoff agreement is often advanced by enough days to allow publishing a report.

如果发行股票的公司预计将在此期间发布收益报告，限售协议通常会提前足够的时间以便发布报告。