The social media giant has hired several banks for the offering and could take the next step – making its financial information available to investors – in coming days, according to two people familiar with the situation.
That would put the company's shares on course to start trading in November, if all goes according to plan. And the government shutdown is unlikely to disrupt the offering, as long as it does not last too long.
Twitter tapped Goldman Sachs to lead the IPO, with Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America Merrill Lynch also advising on the offering, according to the people. They did not want to be identified because Twitter's plans are still private.
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Bloomberg News reported Tuesday that Twitter also added two boutique banks to the deal — Allen & Co. and Code Advisors.
Most of the large banks, including Goldman, Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan, are providing Twitter with a credit line, one of the people said. The line may be up to $1 billion, according to reports. Twitter spokesman Jim Prosser did not respond to a request for comment.
Twitter's IPO is the most important technology offering since Facebook's flawed market debut in 2012. Twitter has become a powerful way to share information, used by corporate chieftains, presidents and kids alike. The public filing will reveal for the first time how successful the company has been generating revenue and profit from this.
Twitter said in September that it had filed IPO documents with regulators confidentially under a new law that allows companies with less than $1 billion in annual revenue to keep such details under wraps. However, companies are required to make the documents public about three weeks before the start of "roadshows" in which they meet with potential investors in the IPO.
If Twitte! r makes a public filing in early October, that suggests its roadshow will start in late October or early November. Roadshows typically last a week or two, so Twitter shares could start trading in mid to late November, if all goes according to plan.
One potential problem is the U.S. government shutdown. This has the Securities and Exchange Commission running on so-called carryover funds which may last a week or two. The SEC is the regulator that approves IPO filings, so if the shutdown lasts for a long time, it could disrupt some offerings.
However, Twitter's deal has already been filed in private with the SEC and the public prospectus is expected in coming days. News website Quartz reported Sunday that Twitter planned to make its IPO filing public this week.
"They have a great deal of the work already done," said Kathleen Smith of IPO fund manager Renaissance Capital.
Wix.com, operator of a website development platform, made its IPO plans public Tuesday. Its offering is underwritten by two of the banks working on the Twitter deal — JP Morgan and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Follow Alistair Barr on Twitter: @alistairmbarr.
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