arrangement commonly used in corporate underwriting in which each member of a selling group assumes responsibility for selling a share of the total offering, but is not responsible for actions of the other parties. Each member of the selling group is responsible for a portion of the original contract, but not for any unsold shares. Also called a divided account or Western Account.
form of agreement used to establish the responsibility for selling a portion of the securities in an underwriting. underwriting group members agree to buy a certain portion of an issue (severally) but do not agree to joint liability for shares not sold by other members of the syndicate. In a less common form of underwriting arrangement, called a several and joint agreement, syndicate members agree to sell not only the shares allocated to them, but also any shares not sold by the rest of the group.
