The Impact of Strategic Investment Choices on Post-Issue Operating Performance and Survival of US IPO Firms

Abstract:  We examine the impact of strategic investment choices at the time of the IPO on: (i) the post-issue operating performance and (ii) the likelihood of failure and time-to-failure of newly public US firms. Our post-issue operating performance analysis uses various performance metrics, benchmarks, and expectation models. Overall, our evidence indicates that the extent of diversification and industry-adjusted capital expenditures intensity are generally positively related to changes in operating performance. We do not, however, document a consistent relation between industry-adjusted R&D expenditures and changes in operating performance. The results from our survival analysis suggest that pre-issue managerial commitment to R&D spending and developing diversified product lines enhance the ability of IPO issuing firms to remain viable for longer periods of time. Our study highlights the impact of various managerial investment decisions on the subsequent performance of newly public firms.     

Issuer Operating Performance and IPO Price Formation

We study the relation between issuer operating performance and initial public offering (IPO) price formation from the initial price range to the offer price to the closing price on the first trading day. For a post‐bubble sample of 2001–2013 IPOs, we find that pre‐IPO net income and, in particular, operating cash flow are strongly, positively associated with the revision from the mid‐point of the initial price range to the offer price and that the “partial adjustment phenomenon” concentrates among issuers with the strongest operating performance. As for why publicly observable information helps predict changes in valuation from when the initial price range is set to when the offer price is set, our findings suggest that strong‐performing issuers, especially those offering small slices of ownership, have lower bargaining incentives and are susceptible to the underwriter(s) low‐balling the price range. Overall, our results suggest an important role for accounting information in understanding the pricing of book‐built IPOs and are consistent with the presence of agency problems between issuers and underwriters.        

The Operating Performance of Firms Conducting Seasoned Equity Offerings

Recent studies have documented that firms conducting seasoned equity offerings have inordinately low stock returns during the five years after the offering, following a sharp run-up in the year prior to the offering. This article documents that the operating performance of issuing firms shows substantial improvement prior to the offering, but then deteriorates. The multiples at the time of the offering, however, do not reflect an expectation of deteriorating performance. Issuing firms are disproportionately high-growth firms, but issuers have much lower subsequent stock returns than nonissuers with the same growth rate.     

The Operating Performance of Firms that Switch Their Stock Listings

In this article we examine the operating performance of stocks that switch from NASDAQ to the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) or the New Stock Exchange (NYSE) and from AMEX to the NYSE. Specifically, we investigate whether post‐listing operating performance is consistent with the reported negative long‐term drift of post‐listing stock returns and whether there is evidence of self‐selection of the listing time. We find evidence of negative post‐listing changes in operating return on assets and sales, which, on a match‐adjusted basis, are significant for the relatively small NASDAQ stocks switching to AMEX. We also find evidence that firms self‐select the time of listing changes.     

Overinvestment and the Operating Performance of SEO Firms

Prior studies have documented that firms' operating performance deteriorates following seasoned equity offerings (SEOs). This paper proposes and empirically tests the hypothesis that this poor performance is the result of managers' overinvestment. I find that, subsequent to the offering, SEO firms tend to invest more heavily than nonissuing control firms that are in the same industry and have enough financial slack and similar investment opportunities. More importantly, I find a negative correlation between postissue investment and operating performance, controlling for investment opportunities and preissue performance. Overinvestment results in a reduction in asset productivity and is more severe for firms with relatively fewer investment opportunities.     

Takeover Defenses of IPO Firms

Many firms deploy takeover defenses when they go public. IPO managers tend to deploy defenses when their compensation is high, shareholdings are small, and oversight from nonmanagerial shareholders is weak. The presence of a defense is negatively related to subsequent acquisition likelihood, yet has no impact on takeover premiums for firms that are acquired. These results do not support arguments that takeover defenses facilitate the eventual sale of IPO firms at high takeover premiums. Rather, they suggest that managers shift the cost of takeover protection onto nonmanagerial shareholders. Thus, agency problems are important even for firms at the IPO stage.     

The Operating Performance of Newly Privatised Firms in Central European Transition Economies

This study examines the operating performance of privatised firms in three Central European Transition Economies between 1990 and 1998. Overall, we find no evidence of a significant improvement in operating performance for the first six years after privatisation. Contrary to the increasing empirical evidence for non‐transition economies, our privatised firms experience no improvement in profitability, capital investments, efficiency, and output, a significant drop in employment, as well as a significant increase in leverage. The most important determinants of the performance changes following privatisation were country effects, timing of the privatisation sales, industry classification, and state ownership after privatisation. Our findings are consistent with the empirical evidence that the transition process proved to be more difficult than expected and that, although necessary, privatisations do not necessarily produce equal efficiency gains in transition economies ( Megginson, 2005 ; Havrylyshyn and McGettigan, 1999 ).     

The Financial and Operating Performance of Privatized Firms during the 1990s

This study compares the pre- and postprivatization financial and operating performance of 85 companies from 28 industrialized countries that were privatized through public share offerings for the period from 1990 through 1996. We document significant increases in profitability, output, operating efficiency, and dividend payments—and significant decreases in leverage ratios—for our full sample of firms after privatization, and for most subsamples examined. Capital expenditures increase significantly in absolute terms, but not relative to sales. Employment declines, but insignificantly. Combined with results from two previous, directly comparable studies, these findings strongly suggest that privatization yields significant performance improvements.     

The Financial and Operating Performance of Newly Privatized Firms: An International Empirical Analysis

This study compares the pre and postprivatization financial and operating performance of 61 companies from 18 countries and 32 industries that experience full or partial privatization through public share offerings during the period 1961 to 1990. Our results document strong performance improvements, achieved surprisingly without sacrificing employment security. Specifically, after being privatized, firms increase real sales, become more profitable, increase their capital investment spending, improve their operating efficiency, and increase their work forces. Furthermore, these companies significantly lower their debt levels and increase dividend payout. Finally, we document significant changes in the size and composition of corporate boards of directors after privatization.     

The Financial and Operating Performance of Newly Privatized Firms: Evidence from Developing Countries

This paper examines the change in the financial and operating performance of 79 companies from 21 developing countries that experienced full or partial privatization during the period from 1980 to 1992. We use accounting performance measures adjusted for market effects in addition to unadjusted accounting performance measures. Both unadjusted and market-adjusted results show significant increases in profitability, operating efficiency, capital investment spending, output, employment level, and dividends. We also find a decline in leverage following privatization but this change is significant only for unadjusted leverage ratios. Our results are generally robust when we partition our data into various subsamples.     

Operating Performance and Stock Returns of Firms Calling Convertible Preferred Stocks

Abstract:   Using methodologies developed by Barber and Lyon (1996 and 1997 ), we examine the long‐run operating performance and stock returns of firms around in‐the‐money calls of convertible preferred stock. Our study intends to be a direct test of the hypothesis that managers call in‐the‐money convertibles when they view a decline in the firms' performance. We find no evidence that calling firms underperform non‐calling benchmark firms. On the contrary, we find mild evidence that the post‐call operating performance of calling firms is better than a carefully selected group of benchmark firms and call firms' post‐call stock returns are no worse than benchmark firms.     

The Post-Issue Market Performance of Initial Public Offerings in China's New Stock Markets

In this paper, we investigate the post-issue market performance of initial public offerings (IPOs) in China's new stock markets. Our analysis focuses on whether and how institutional features unique to China differentially affect IPO performance. These features include the existence of dual-class shares for the same underlying firms (A-shares issued to domestic investors and B-shares issued to foreign investors) and the unusually long time lag between the offering and listing dates. Our sample consists of 277 A-share and 65 B-share IPOs that were listed on China's new stock markets during the 1992–1995 period. Our study has a number of interesting results. First, A-share IPOs are much more severely underpriced during the initial return period than B-share IPOs. Second, B-share IPOs underperform A-share IPOs (and the market) during the post-issue periods for up to three years. Third, the results of multivariate regression analyses strongly suggest that economic factors determining the post-issue performance of IPOs differ across the A-share and B-share samples.     

私募股权投资与证券分析师新股关注

本文采用2009年至2011年新上市的281家创业板公司为研究样本,考察私募股权投资如何影响证券分析师对被投资企业上市的关注程度。结果发现私募股权投资支持的企业能够吸引到更多的证券分析师关注,并且证券分析师的预测也更加准确,这与私募股权投资的认证假说和市场能力假说相符。此外,相比非外资背景的私募股权投资,外资背景的私募股权投资支持的企业在上市时受到更多的证券分析师关注,并且分析师预测准度也更高。进一步研究发现,参与上市公司的私募股权投资机构越多,对该上市公司关注的证券分析师越多,但并未发现对分析师预测准度的显著影响。本文的研究不仅丰富了PE与证券分析师的文献,也为我国如何加强建设内资PE团队提供了重要的参考价值。     

会计师事务所组织形式、盈余管理与IPO折价

会计师事务所组织形式由有限责任制变为特殊普通合伙制,增加了审计师的法律责任,提高了审计的鉴证价值和保险价值,有利于审计师在 IPO 审计过程中更好地发挥信息中介作用。以保荐制下 IPO公司为样本,实证考察事务所组织形式对 IPO 盈余管理和 IPO 折价的影响。研究发现,相比有限责任制事务所,特殊普通合伙制事务所审计的发行公司的正向盈余管理水平更低,IPO 折价率也更低。研究结论表明事务所转制后,审计师加强了对发行公司盈余管理行为的约束,提高了 IPO 定价效率,监管部门推动的事务所转制对 IPO 市场具有积极治理效果。     

发审委身份公开、会计师事务所声誉与IPO公司盈余质量

本文以我国2000至2007年期间IPO公司财务报告为样本,以2003年我国由证监会遴选执业会计师出任股票发行审核委员会(简称发审委)委员的身份公开为背景,研究被证监会遴选执业会计师出任股票发审委委员的会计师事务所是否有动机提高审计质量,以维护来自政府认可的信任声誉。实证研究发现,这些会计师事务所审计的IPO公司财务报告的盈余质量,无论横向比较还是纵向比较均有显著提高。据此推论,来自政府认可的会计师事务所声誉与源于市场口碑的会计师事务所声誉一样,对享有这些声誉的会计师事务所提高审计质量有明显激励作用。     

Why Do IPO Firms Conduct Primary Seasoned Equity Offerings?

This study examines the reason behind the IPO firm's decision to conduct a primary seasoned equity offering (SEO). First, we develop a two–period model of blockholder incentives starting from the IPO stage. The model suggests that the blockholder has an incentive to conduct an SEO after the IPO when the firm is experiencing growth that was not anticipated at the IPO stage. Using a sample of IPO firms during 1992 to 1997, we find that IPO firms with higher unanticipated positive growth are more likely to conduct an SEO during the four years after their IPOs. We find that the firm's unanticipated shock and growth positively affect the relative size of the firm's seasoned equity offering. We also find that the firm's risk measure reduces the probability of conducting an SEO and reduces the relative size of an SEO.     

Politically Connected CEOs,Corporate Governance,and the Post‐IPO Performance of China's Partially Privatized Firms

The authors' study provides suggestive evidence of the negative effects of politically connected CEOs on the corporate performance and governance of publicly listed companies in China. Newly listed Chinese companies with politically connected CEOs are more likely to have boards that are populated by current or former government bureaucrats, and that generally exhibit low degrees of professionalism, as indicated by fewer directors with relevant professional backgrounds. At the same time, the operating and stock‐return performance of such firms has failed to match that of their politically unconnected counterparts. Thus, the authors' study provides more support for the argument that bureaucrats and politicians extract resources from listed SOEs under their control to fulfill objectives that are not consistent with firm value maximization. Expressed in more general terms, the main finding of the study is that the constraints on property rights faced by Chinese SOEs—namely the non‐transferability of state ownership and the right of the government to appoint CEOs—appear to have significantly negative effects on firm performance as well as board professionalism and governance. Removing these constraints will likely have to be a critical part of any future reforms that aim to improve the productivity of listed Chinese companies.     

审计失败与会计师事务所声誉损失:来自IPO审核的证据

本文分析了会计师事务所审计失败对其客户IPO审核拒绝率的影响。我们研究发现,会计师事务所审计失败会导致其声誉损失,其客户的IPO审核拒绝率将显著提高。发生审计失败后,不管事务所是否受到监管处罚,其客户的IPO审核拒绝率都会显著提高,但审计失败后受处罚的会计师事务所(受处罚所)的客户IPO审核拒绝率显著高于审计失败后未受处罚的会计师事务所(未受处罚所)的客户IPO审核拒绝率,即监管处罚对会计师事务所的声誉产生了更严重的后果。我们进一步发现,不同类型的会计师事务所,审计失败对其客户IPO审核拒绝率的影响不同。     

The Equity Performance of Firms Emerging from Bankruptcy

This study assesses the stock return performance of 131 firms emerging from Chapter 11. Using differing estimates of expected returns, we consistently find evidence of large, positive excess returns in 200 days of returns following emergence. We also examine the reaction of our sample firms' equity returns to their earnings announcements after emergence from Chapter 11. The positive and significant reactions suggest that our results are driven by the market's expectational errors, not mismeasurement of risk. The results provide an interesting contrast, but not a contradiction, to previous work that has documented poor operating performance for firms emerging from Chapter 11.     

IPO Prospectus Information and Subsequent Performance

Initial public offerings underperform in the long run; however, there is very little evidence on their cross‐sectional variation. Using a random sample of IPOs from 1987 through 1991 and gathering their prospectus data, we show that financial and operating characteristics as well as offering characteristics have a limited relation with the one‐year stock returns. We also find that firms that subsequently reissue equity or merge outperform their matched‐firm benchmarks over three years. Underperformance is most severe for the smaller and younger firms. We find that prospectus information is more useful to predict survival/failure compared to subsequent equity offerings or acquisitions.