greenshoe investment & finance definition

An underwriting agreement provision that permits syndicate members to purchase additional shares at the original offering price. Shares in the greenshoe may consist of additional shares from the issuing company or may come from existing shareholders as a secondary offering. For example, the 2002 IPO of CIT Group included 200 million shares plus a greenshoe of 20 million additional shares that could be purchased by syndicate members at the $23 offering price within 30 days. Also called overallotment option.