Systematic risk,the tradeoff of leverage and IPO first-day returns

In this paper, we investigate IPO first-day returns in French market. Our focus is to assess the relationship between equity risk, corporate leverage and IPO initial returns. Based on data of 254 French IPOs, traded on Euronext/Alternext markets over the period 2006 and 2016, we find that estimated beta and idiosyncratic volatility are strongly and negatively related to book and market net gearing ratios. We also find that the interaction terms between equity risk measures and corporate leverage ratios are inversely related to IPO first-day returns. In addition, we highlight that industry and macroeconomic environment variables are significant predictors of equity initial returns. Robustness check of our findings indicates less relevant results for corporate leverage when it is estimated as independent variable.

     

Diversification,capital structure,and performance: A simultaneous equation approach

This paper examines the relationships between diversification, capital structure, and performance jointly on the financial sector. Our dataset covers 412 French financial institutions over the period ranging from 2002 to 2012. Furthermore, we use a three‐stage least squares to check reverse causality. Our three‐stage least squares results show positive significant simultaneous interdependencies between performance and leverage. Performance reduction and debt levels increase are associated with activity diversification. Performance and leverage reduction is due to geographic diversification. Our estimation confirms reverse association between the interaction of diversification, leverage, and performance. Moreover, the findings are robust after taking into account alternative measures of diversification.