Equity

In January 2018, Gates completed an initial public offering of 38,500,000 shares at $19.00 each. Shortly thereafter, the underwriters of the initial public offering exercised their over-allotment option for a further 5,775,000 shares, also at $19.00 each. Movements in the Company’s number of shares in issue for the nine month periods ended September 28, 2019 and September 29, 2018, respectively, were as follows:



	Nine months ended
(number of shares)	September 28, 2019	September 29, 2018
Balance as of the beginning of the fiscal year	289,847,574	245,474,605
Issuance of shares	—	44,275,000
Exercise of share options	257,322	58,545
Vesting of restricted stock units, net of withholding taxes	13,229	—
Balance as of the end of the period	290,118,125	289,808,150

The Company has one class of authorized and issued shares, with a par value of $0.01, and each share has equal voting rights.