Strategic behavior of insiders in initial underpricing and long-run underperformance

We study strategic behavior of insiders in ChiNext IPOs. Since traditional initial underpricing is not appropriate due to the jawbone P/E ratio approach and maximum initial return cap we propose two alternative measures. We identify a significantly positive relationship between insiders' shareholdings and initial underpricing. With no discretion on IPO offer price, the insiders implement earnings management to maintain higher stock prices induced by regulatory changes and high market demand and to facilitate selling their unlocked shares after lockup expiration. We confirm a negative impact from insiders' share sales on long-term performance but don't observe a dramatic underperformance as documented.     

Venture capital investors and foreign listing choices of Chinese companies

We investigate the listing choice of Chinese VC-backed companies between a domestic market and foreign stock markets. Using a comprehensive sample of 2249 IPOs of Chinese companies that went public during the 1994–2013 period, we find that companies backed by Chinese domestic VCs are significantly less likely to list abroad while those backed by foreign VCs or co-invested by foreign and domestic VCs are significantly more likely to do so. We further find that the introduction of a domestic stock market for high-tech start-ups (the ChiNext Board) significantly reduces the likelihood to list abroad. However, the effect of VC participation largely disappears after the introduction of the ChiNext Board, in that the companies backed by foreign or co-invested VCs are more likely to list domestically. Moreover, we find that VC-backed IPOs have larger issuance sizes, but we find no impact on IPO underpricing of these Chinese companies. These results on IPO outcome hold for both the full sample and a matched sample using propensity score matching.     

风险投资对创业板市场IPO抑价的影响

通过对218家在创业板上市公司首次公开发行当天股价上涨现象进行研究,结果表明在创业板推出初期上市的公司存在严重的IPO抑价。中国创业板近70%的公司有风险资本背景,但是创业企业的风险资本对抑价水平的影响不显著,上市公司本身的特点和财务业绩因素对IPO抑价影响也不显著。中国创业板市场IPO抑价严重的原因是创业板市场运行机制不成熟,二级股票市场投机情况严重。另外,付市盈率、中签率、换手率等对IPO抑价水平影响显著。     

ChiNext IPOs' initial returns before and after the 2013 stock market reform: What can we learn?

We examine ChiNext IPOs' performance before and after the 2013 stock market reform. Majority of firm-level characteristics differ significantly over the two sub-periods. The initial return looks normal before the reform. It exhibits a uniform distribution truncated at the maximum 44% initial cap imposed by the reform thereafter and the cumulative return, based on listing day closing price keeps rising at a steady pace over the 1st month. The 2013 reform pushes the ChiNext IPO market off its track of becoming more efficient. Instead, it widens income gap in China. Our findings and recommendations support the 2020 new regulatory changes.     

Foreign Firms Issuing Equity on US Exchanges: An Empirical Investigation of IPOs and SEOs

We analyse a sample of foreign firms issuing equity in the USA to determine the factors that affect IPO and SEO pricing. The average SEO discount, defined as the percentage difference between the price in the local market on the offering date and the SEO offer price, is 2.07%, and is significantly lower for stocks that are ultimately listed on the NYSE/AMEX than for stocks that are listed on the Nasdaq. Foreign equity issues are underpriced; the traditional underpricing discount, which is defined as the percentage difference between the closing price on the first day of trading and the offer price, is 18.75% on average. Equity issuers from industry groups with the largest six–month pre–IPO return in the US market experience a higher level of underpricing. For the subsample of emerging market issues, we document that, in the after–market, the ADR price remains persistently above the dollar denominated price in the domestic market for up to 90 days following the date of the issue.     

Economic freedom and IPO underpricing

This paper examines how the difference in institutional environments constitutes differential IPO underpricing across countries. Using the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom (IEF) as a proxy for the heterogeneous institutional environment, and a sample of 3728 IPOs from 22 countries and regions over the period 1993–2014, we find that countries with higher economic freedom have significantly less serious IPO underpricing problems. Moreover, we find that among the 10 economic freedom factors covered by theIEF, financial freedom related factors play a more important role in reducing the IPO underpricing problem. Finally, consistent with the market sentiment hypothesis, we find strong evidence that pre-IPO market sentiment influences IPO first-day returns, and that the IPO underpricing problem is less severe when the market is bearish.     

IPO抑价与证券市场制度变迁

IPO抑价是股票市场一个普遍存在的一个现象,我国也不例外。国外的理论重在研究IPO抑价的原因,且这些理论都是建立在市场有效的前提条件之上的,用这些理论解释我国IPO抑价率过高的情况不是特别合适。本文就我国证券市场各个阶段定价方式和发行制度的特征及各阶段IPO抑价率的情况做一简要分析,并针对IPO抑价存在的问题提出对策建议。     

Does corporate hedging affect firm valuation? Evidence from the IPO market

Focusing on the IPO market, we examine the influence of corporate hedging on firm valuation. Consistent with the argument that hedging reduces information asymmetry, we find that hedging IPO firms are associated with lower price revisions and underwriting fees. More important, hedging reduces IPO underpricing, especially for informationally opaque firms. This provides strong evidence that corporate hedging increases firm valuation. We also show that corporate hedging lowers aftermarket idiosyncratic volatility, enhances aftermarket liquidity, and improves the long-term performance of IPO firms. We use both an instrumental variable approach and a regulation change on derivatives supply to address endogeneity concerns.     

Disclosure of Downside Risk and Investors' Use of Qualitative Information: Evidence from the IPO Prospectus's Risk Factor Section

I use the context of a company's initial public offering (IPO) of equity securities as a capital‐market setting to empirically study the economic consequences of risk factor disclosures. Using data from Australian IPOs, I examine the relation of textual risk disclosures in the prospectus to initial underpricing. I find that the quantity of disclosures in the risk factor section itself has no significant impact on initial underpricing. However, an increase in the informativeness of risk factor disclosures is associated with lower IPO underpricing. My results suggest that IPOs that provide informative risk factor disclosures have less ex ante uncertainty, in the sense that the disclosures help investors estimate the dispersion of secondary market value. The effect of informative risk factor disclosures on IPO underpricing is more pronounced for IPOs with less prestigious lead underwriters and is mainly driven by younger firms, smaller firms, and firms with poorer operating performance prior to their IPOs. Collectively, my findings suggest that informative disclosures of downside risk are useful for investors to evaluate IPOs.     

Government Public Policy, Regulatory Intervention, and Their Impact on IPO Underpricing: The Case of Malaysian IPOs

This study examines the impact of government initial public offering (IPO) regulation intending on promoting public policy. The study examines the results of the implementation of a Malaysian government policy in 1976, which mandated that at least 30 percent of any new shares on an IPO offer be sold to the indigenous Bumiputera population or to mutual funds owned by them. The study examined the short-run and long-run underpricing of Malaysian IPOs and found that Malaysian IPOs are highly underpriced compared to IPOs in developing countries, creating a market microstructure effect. It also confirmed that the Malaysian government's regulatory intervention in spite of noble public policy intentions appeared to be the significant factor for the emergence of an average first-day underpricing increase of Malaysian IPOs by 61 percent during the period after the regulatory economic policy was instituted. Furthermore, the study found that this high underpricing persists even for the long run, in contrast to the long-run performance of IPOs in the United States.     

媒体关注对IPO抑价影响路径探究——基于创业板的经验证据

文章重点探讨媒体关注对我国IPO抑价影响的具体路径。基于上市公司IPO及之前的媒体信息,选取创业板IPO公司作为研究样本,从行为金融学视角对抑价理论进行实证检验。经路径研究发现,高媒体关注通过配置投资者“有限注意力”导致高发行抑价,在个人投资者比例较高的创业板市场上,媒体关注对IPO抑价的影响路径是基于情绪效应而不是认知效应。     

承销商声誉与IPO抑价的实证分析——基于我国股票发行监管制度改革

通过以我国沪深两市793个A股为样本,建立回归模型,检验承销商声誉与IPO抑价的关系发现,随着股票发行监管制度变迁,承销商逐渐开始注重声誉建设和维护;另外,由于我国股票发行定价制度的非完全市场化,整体上承销商声誉与IPO抑价成正相关关系。这一结论说明了我国股票发行监管制度改革是有效的,强化了承销商的责任和风险防范,有利于加快承销商间的优胜劣汰,有利于承销商声誉机制的形成,促进了我国证券市场承销商对声誉的建设与维护。     

承销费用、政府定价管制与 IPO 抑价--来自中国首次公开发行公司的经验证据

选择2001年11月1日至2012年12月31日的中国A股IPO公司为研究样本,分析承销费用与IPO抑价之间的关系及其在政府定价管制程度不同情况下对承销费用与IPO抑价关系的影响。结果显示,承销费用与IPO抑价呈正相关关系;而政府定价管制程度的提高会削弱承销费用与IPO抑价之间的正相关关系,甚至会使其转向负相关关系。     

我国沪深A股IPO折价问题再研究

通过普通最小二乘法对我国沪深A股IPO折价现象的多元线性回归分析发现,沪深A股IPO的折价程度不断减弱,定价逐渐趋于理性。实证分析中只有网上超额认购倍数、发行日与上市日之间的间隔期和我国在不同的历史时期采取的不同定价发行方式对IPO折价程度具有统计上的显著性。股票发行定价方式的改变是影响我国A股IPO折价程度高的主要原因。     

Does reputation of sponsors matter in IPO? Evidence from Hong Kong

Contrary to other markets where underwriters perform a combined role of underwriting and sponsoring in an Initial Public Offering (IPO), IPO issuers in Hong Kong must appoint at least one sponsor in addition to the underwriters. The splitting of the single role of underwriters into two separate ones offers an ideal setting to disentangle the effects of the two roles and to examine which of the two roles—sponsor or underwriter—is more important in explaining IPO underpricing and initial volatility in the Hong Kong equity market. Interestingly, our findings provide supportive evidence that the sponsor reputation does matter in an IPO and it is even more significant than the underwriter reputation in explaining the IPO underpricing phenomenon. Given the recent high-tech fervor, our research goes deeper to examine specifically the role of sponsors on high-tech firms, with results indicating that the reliance on sponsors is higher for traditional issuers than for technology firms. We further discover that sponsors and underwriters are playing substitution roles rather than complementary roles. In order to examine the regulatory policy impact, our research also compares the role of IPO sponsors before and after the launch of the new sponsor regulatory regime in 2013. The empirical findings lend support to our argument that after the launch of the new regulations, public awareness of sponsors is raised, respect towards more reputable sponsor increases, and thus, the role of sponsors becomes more important than before.     

The Distribution of IPO Holdings Across Institutional Mutual Funds

We examine initial public offering (IPO) holdings in the mutual funds of four large investment banks and five large non-investment banks during the period 1997 through 2002. Investment banks hold IPOs with different characteristics than IPOs held by non-investment banks, and they also tend to hold IPOs in different types of funds than non-investment banks. We classify holdings as to whether the IPO lies outside or inside the fund’s objective. Investment banks hold IPOs outside the fund objective in 27% of the fund/IPO pairs while non-investment banks hold outside their objective in just 5.4% of fund/IPO pairs. We see significant differences in IPO underpricing for both groups as well. For example, when non-investment banks hold IPOs outside a large capitalization fund objective, they select IPOs with 52% higher underpricing as measured by first-day returns.     

Testing a model of signals in the IPO offer process

This study examines agency and market signals related to a sample of high-technology firms seeking an initial public offering (IPO). We test a model of the IPO offer process in high-technology firms. Results indicate that certain pre-market and primary market factors affect the offer price received by entrepreneurs and investors, while the secondary market factor did not. Our model may help entrepreneurs position their organization prior to and during the IPO process.     

Underpricing in new equity listings: A conceptual re-appraisal

This paper appraises the existing approaches used to measure the underpricing of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs). The conceptual problems surrounding the measurement of IPO underpricing are noted to be significant and suggest that underpricing costs and returns may need to be evaluated with reference to the particular characteristics of individual offerings. For example, details of the number of primary shares on offer, the effect on corporate control of listing, the information effects resulting from listing, the liquidity of shares pre-offer, the impact of speculative activity on post-listing firm value and, finally, the actual dating of an IPO may all need to be considered. In short, the existing measures suggested for IPO underpricing do not allow managers/owners in IPO firms or investors in IPO stocks to assess, unequivocally, the respective costs and returns from underpricing in such issues.The authors would like to acknowledge the helpful comments of an anonymous reviewer.     

Firm value and its relation to equity retention levels, forecast earnings disclosures and underpricing in initial public offerings in Hong Kong

This study helps extend our understanding of the factors underlying the valuation of initial public offering (IPO) firms within the Hong Kong market context. The issues investigated are all the more important given Hong Kong's unique position in China, where free and unfettered capital markets entice global institutions wishing to partake in the ‘China investment story’. We find support for three signals of initial firm value: the fraction of equity retained by pre-listing stakeholders [Leland, H., & Pyle, D. (1977). Information asymmetries, financial structure and financial intermediation. Journal of Finance, 32, 371–387], the voluntary disclosure of a prospectus earnings forecast [Trueman, B. (1986). Why do managers voluntarily release earnings forecasts. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 53–71] and the amount of funds ‘given-up’ through IPO underpricing [see Allen, F., & Faulhaber, G. R. (1989). Signalling by underpricing in the IPO market. Journal of Financial Economics, 23, 303–323; Grinblatt, M., & Hwang, C. Y. (1989). Signalling and the pricing of new issues. Journal of Finance, 44, 393–420; Welch, I. (1989). Seasoned offerings, imitation costs, and the underpricing of initial public offerings. Journal of Finance, 44, 421–449]. Moreover, the signals appear robust to different firm valuation measures (i.e., market-to-book and Tobin's Q) and to the inclusion/exclusion of PRC state-owned H-share issuers.A number of other important contributions also emerge. First, we develop a new measurement form for the pre-listing shareholders’ equity retention level (α) by decomposing it to reflect differential effects from primary and (‘voluntary’ and ‘involuntary’) secondary offers. We further show that after accounting for listing rule effects—which partially drive the choice of the retained equity level in the Hong Kong setting—the equity retention-firm value relation is seen with much greater clarity.In a later stage of analysis we deepen the signal-firm value findings by relating the three signals to post-IPO earnings. We note a positive association between the fraction of equity retained by pre-listing owners and earnings growth. However, this association weakens somewhat beyond the first two accounting year-ends post-listing. Significantly, earnings appreciation appears markedly weaker for issuers going to market with a secondary offer component within their overall IPO. Finally, consistent with Jain and Kini's [1994. The post-operating performance of IPO firms. Journal of Finance, 49(5), 1699–1726] US evidence, IPO underpricing appears to have little or no association with post-listing earnings.     

Overreaction in ChiNext IPOs' initial returns: How much and what caused it?

This paper studies overreaction in initial returns for ChiNext IPOs. We hypothesize the initial return contains a fundamental underpricing and an overreaction. The fundamental is represented by the 21st day return and the difference between the initial and 21st day returns represents overreaction. We investigate this conjecture and identify the variables that are significant for both returns, for one but not for the other, and for the difference. The initial return is driven more by short-term and market factors that cause overreaction while the 21st day return is affected more by an issuer's fundamentals. The overreaction is only weakly time-varying.