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We use a decision-tree-based machine learning approach to perform relative valuation. Stocks are valued using market-to-book, enterprise-value-to-assets and enterprise-value-to-sales multiples. Our machine learning models reduce median absolute valuation errors by between 17% and 50% relative to traditional models. The identified valuation drivers are consistent with theoretical predictions derived from a discounted cash flow approach. Accounting variables related to profitability, growth, efficiency and financial soundness are important valuation drivers. The valuations produced by machine learning models behave like fundamental values. A value-weighted strategy that buys (sells) undervalued (overvalued) stocks generates highly significant abnormal returns. When we use models trained on listed firms to value IPOs, machine learning models outperform traditional models in valuation accuracy and can identify mispriced IPOs.

We examine the impact of oil price uncertainty on IPO volume in the oil and gas sector. By using the implied volatility of oil options, a forward looking exogenously determined uncertainty measure, we can clearly identify the effect of uncertainty on the going public decision. Oil price uncertainty has a strong negative relation to IPO volume, a one standard deviation decrease in the implied volatility results in a 25%-29% increase in the number of quarterly IPOs. The effect is concentrated among the price sensitive upstream producers. We further report that uncertainty negatively impacts the IPO withdrawal decision and increases the value to postpone the offering.

We find a negative relation between democracy and initial public offering (IPO) underpricing for a sample of 23,050 IPOs across 45 countries. The effect of democracy on underpricing is weaker for IPOs audited by Big 4 auditing firms, backed by venture capital firms, and with better disclosure specificity of use of proceeds. Democracy exerts a larger influence on underpricing for firms with higher agency problems, in countries with weaker institutional quality or shareholder protection, and during periods of high investor sentiment or economic policy uncertainty. Overall, our results highlight the importance of democracy in reducing IPO underpricing around the world.

We investigate the influence of public companies on their local economies through the spending of their employees on local goods and services. Using the taxicab industry in New York City as a laboratory, we find that tips paid for taxis taken near firms’ headquarters are higher on the days their stock returns are higher. This finding is stronger for firms offering greater stock-based compensation, and tipping also increases following the initial public offerings (IPOs) of firms particularly at the end of the IPO lock-up period. Idiosyncratic stock returns are more strongly associated with tipping than are aggregate stock market returns, suggesting that the increase in tipping with stock returns is due to firm-level factors. The number of taxis taken near firms’ headquarters, too, increases with their stock returns. Additional tests suggest that these findings are non-spurious.

The larger underpricing (15 percent) in the early years following the inauguration of Borsa Istanbul indicates the importance of investors, intermediaries, and firm insiders learning about the trading and pricing of firms in organized stock markets. The underpricing in recent years (from 2010 to 2020) averages 5 percent. Micro-level uncertainties about the firm as evidenced by the smaller underpricing in IPOs marketed using fixed offer prices, and the IPOs where underwriters signed on for firm commitment also prove important. Underpricing also proves smaller in larger IPO firms. © 2021 The Authors

Theory suggests that initial public offerings (IPOs) can adversely impact listed firms, both directly by increasing intra-industry competition, and in-directly by completing related asset market spaces. However, the endogeneity of individual IPO activity hinders testing these channels. This paper examines listing suspensions in China in a panel specification that accounts for macroeconomic and financial conditions, isolating the firm-level IPO impact. We measure the competi-tive impact of listing suspensions through the value share of postponed firms in the IPO queue in their industry, and asset-space competition by firms’ historical covariance with a synthetic portfolio of listed firms with the IPO queue industry mix at the time of suspension. Our results support the predicted IPO effects through both channels. We also document heterogeneity in IPO effects. Stronger firms–measured through a variety of proxies–benefit less from the suspension news. These results are robust to a battery of sensitivity tests

In this study, we are the first to examine the role of domestic and foreign venture capital and private equity firms (VCPEs) in Indian firms. We find robust evidence to indicate that portfolio firms backed by foreign VCPEs incorporate effective governance structures in the post-IPO period. Specifically, these firms are associated with smaller, more independent and gender-diverse boards. Furthermore, our results suggest that foreign VCPEs continue their association with their portfolio firms in the post-IPO period by nominating directors to the boards. Our results also suggest that portfolio firms backed by foreign VCPEs are associated with better long-term operating performance and profitability. We note that this positive effect is exacerbated by the presence of VCPE nominated directors on the boards. Collectively, our results provide credence to the view that good governance practices are key to long term success of a business, especially in economies that may lack good legal systems, developed financial markets and a variety of alternative investment opportunities and where developing trust between parties involved in a transaction is more important.

This paper revisits the controversial question of whether long-run abnormal returns are associated with major corporate events. Our analyses investigate initial public offerings (IPOs), seasoned equity offerings (SEOs), mergers and acquisitions (M&As), and dividend initiations. In an attempt to resolve ambiguous empirical evidence with respect to these events, we conduct a variety of tests for abnormal long-run performance, including buy-and-hold returns (BHARs), different calendar time approaches, and a recent standardized test. Empirical tests for these different methods consistently detect significant long-run abnormal returns for all four corporate events. We conclude that long-run abnormal returns exist with respect to these major corporate actions.

Using a unique dataset of loan information disclosed in Chinese firms' initial public offering (IPO) prospectuses, we investigate how prior banking relationships affect the long-term performance of IPOs. The findings suggest that when an IPO firm has a pre-IPO relationship with a bank that includes larger loans or greater loan spreads, its long-term performance is higher. Specifically, we find a 1% increase in the average loan-to-asset ratio (average loan spread) will result in a 1.32% (10.22%) increase in the three-year post-IPO stock return. Additional analysis suggests that firms with higher average loan-to-asset ratios and loan spreads have, on average, higher combined three-years post-IPO asset growth, debt growth, sales growth, and net income growth. Collectively, we show that a bank's knowledge of loan information as a result of a banking relationship that existed prior to the IPO has a material impact on the performance of new firms, which is consistent with the interpretation that bank monitoring has a positive role in firm value.

Using newly available data on initial prices, this study is the first to analyze the price-updating process associated with corporate bond (CB) offerings. Similar to the case for equity IPOs, the evidence shows bookbuilding theories help explain the CB offering price. In particular, CB price updates reduce underwriters’ pricing errors. The partial adjustment phenomenon exists, and underwriters propose a lower initial price in cases of greater uncertainty. However, the CB price update has a large mean value and is smaller for lower-rated offerings, indicating part of the CB price update is unrelated to investors’ information production.

This study investigates the cycles that IPO issuance produce in Pakistan and the US. We did not find evidence of a lead-lag relationship between IPO volume and initial returns in Pakistan; however, this evidence holds for the US IPOs. Another important finding is that Pakistani and US IPOs are sensitive to changes in market conditions. Moreover, we report evidence of emerging hot markets in Pakistan. This study compares the results of hot IPO markets to the proceeds obtained for firms that issue their shares and finds that firms raise more capital during hot markets; however, factors like regulatory regimes have different influences over the proceeds raised across the different markets.

This paper examines the impact of family ownership, management, and generations on IPO underpricing and the long-run performance of publicly listed firms in Indonesia from 2004 to 2015. This study is based on agency theory, which discusses the relationship between shareholders and management, as well as controlling and non-controlling shareholders. Study results show that IPO underpricing was 28% higher for family firms than non-family firms. Among family firms, a family member’s presence as a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) significantly reduced the level of IPO underpricing. A negative relationship between family CEO and IPO underpricing was only observed if a CEO at the time of IPO was the founder instead of family descendants. A long-run return of family-firm IPOs was more likely to underperform their non-family-firm counterparts. The findings in the primary market suggest that investors predict bigger issues of agency conflicts between controlling and non-controlling shareholders in family firms than the issues of agency conflicts between shareholders and management in non-family firms. Since investors consider family-firm IPOs to be riskier than non-family firms, they demand a higher level of IPO underpricing to compensate for such risks. The results in the secondary market confirm the findings in the primary market.

The main objective of this study was to identify the specific characteristics of companies in Cameroon and to highlight the factors that explain their reluctance to be listed on the stock market. Thus, in order to build the state of the art appropriate to this objective, we had to follow three lines of investigation: the theories related to the listing of firms on the stock market, their specific characteristics, and the cross-fertilization of these two fields. On the basis of the literature, four explanatory hypotheses were deduced: they are related to the shareholding structure of firms, to the financial characteristics, to the size of the firm and to the socio-demographic characteristics of the managers. To test these hypotheses, a survey was conducted among 40 SAs in the city of Douala. The data was processed with the SPSS 20 software and we used flat sorting, cross-sorting, pearson correlation test as well as linear regression. This methodology allowed us to obtain the results according to which the family and filial character and the size of the company are mainly the factors of reluctance of the listing on the stock exchange on the one hand, and the behavioral factors of the company managers, in particular the level of education and the experience on the other hand.

Purpose This study aims to investigate whether underwriters exercise their allocation discretion to offer favorable discounts to institutional investors. Design/methodology/approach The research covers 173 offerings at Borsa Istanbul between 2010 and September 2021. Two hypotheses related to allocation discretion are developed and tested by means of probit, ordinary least squares and two-stage least squares regressions. Heckman selection regressions are used for robustness tests. Findings Allocation discretion is catered toward institutional investors who account for more than 56% of all initial allocations adjusted by gross proceeds. Close to 84% of all gross proceeds come from offerings that allocation discretion is exercised. These discretionary offerings are sold with larger price discounts, yet provide lower initial returns, while evidence points to reallocation to retail investors due to weak demand from institutional investors. Research limitations/implications Despite using the population of firms in the research period, the sample size is small relative to more developed markets. The research period cannot be extended because allocation discretion is allowed in 2010. Practical implications The research highlights the importance of institutional and foreign investors to the equity markets. This issue is relevant due to the ongoing flight of foreign investors from emerging economies and the increasing participation of small investors in the stock markets. Social implications The study cautions retail investors against greater (re)allocations by underwriters who may seek to compensate for the loss of their foreign investor base and urges policymakers to regain foreign investors. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research paper to use actual discounts disclosed in the prospectus to test the predictions related to allocation discretion. The study also contributes to the emerging markets literature by documenting allocation practices of the Turkish underwriters for the first time.

The introductory part of the article is devoted to a brief overview of the typical methods of raising funds for a company’s capital. Then, I compared The pros and cons of each approach. Further, the author introduces the company’s new fundraising – through the merger with a SPAC (from now on referred to as the merger with SPAC). The article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of this option for a company to enter public capital markets or raise capital in a company compared to the already traditional methods – raising private capital and entering public capital markets through an IPO. As a result of this comparison, the author concludes that the merger with SPAC has the advantages of both classical options for raising capital, without their disadvantages, which makes this option a unique offer on the market. Statistical data confirmed this conclusion. The separate section in the article is devoted to the peculiarities and complexities of the merge with SPAC. The advantages of the merger with SPAC for the leading Russian companies compared with other types of capital raising are separately highlighted, and the contrast between the placement on the MICEX and the merger with SPAC. The article also presents statistics on the public capital market and the impact on the public market of the new opportunity for companies to go public. In the final section of the article, the author discloses the chain of events that brought the merger with a SPAC such a fame and popularity at the current moment in time. The article resulted in an explanation of the attractiveness of institutional investors’ investment of funds in companies that have chosen the merger with a SPAC as a potentiality for entering public capital markets.

SYNOPSIS We study the costs and benefits to the issuer of engaging an initial public offering (IPO) auditor specialist. We measure IPO auditor specialization and then find that IPO specialist auditors earn significant fee premiums relative to IPO auditors without specialization and that clients with an IPO specialist auditor exhibit lower levels of underpricing relative to clients without an IPO specialist auditor. We also demonstrate that IPO specialist auditors provide higher quality audits than IPO auditors without IPO audit specialization, finding that their IPO clients have a lower likelihood of financial misstatement and have lower discretionary accruals. Collectively, our results have important implications for the auditing profession and capital markets because we demonstrate empirical evidence of the costs and benefits of engaging IPO specialist auditors.

Purpose The goal of the study is to examine the effects of news sentiment and topics dominating in the news field prior to the initial public offering (IPO) on the IPO underpricing. Design/methodology/approach The authors’ approach has several steps. The first is textual analysis. To detect the dominating topics in the news, the authors use Latent Dirichlet allocation. The authors use bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT) pretrained on financial news corpus to evaluate the tonality of articles. The second is evaluation of feature importance. To this end, a linear regression with robust estimators and Classification and Regression Tree and Random Forest are used. The third is data. The text data consists of 345,731 news articles from Thomson Reuters related to the USA in the date range from 1 January 2011 to 31 May 2018. The data contains all the possible topics from the website, excluding anything related to sports. The sample of 386 initial public offerings completed in the USA from 1 January 2011 to 31 May 2018 was collected from Bloomberg Database. Findings The authors found that sentiment of the media regarding the companies going public influences IPO underpricing. Some topics, namely, the climate change and environmental policies and the trade war between the US and China, have influence on IPO underpricing if they appear in the media prior to the IPO day. Originality/value The puzzle of IPO underpricing is studied from the point of Narrative Economics theory for the first time. While most of the works cover only some specific news segment, we use Thomson Reuters news aggregator, which uses such sources The New York Post, CNN, Fox, Atlantic, The Washington Post ? Buzzfeed. To evaluate the sentiment of the articles, a state-of-the-art approach BERT is used. The hypothesis that some common narratives or topics in the public discussion may impose influence on such example of biased behaviour like IPO underpricing has also found confirmation.

Subject. The article is devoted to the study of the specific features of banks’ IPO preparation and execution. Objectives. The focus is on the critical analysis of special aspects related to IPO of credit institutions. Methods. The study includes analytical methods for collecting and processing of information, as well as the comparative analysis. Results. I highlight the main characteristics of banks’ economic model, summarize the results of researchers' work on the analysis of factors influencing the profitability of credit institutions, analyze methods for evaluating companies for IPO purposes, identify main approaches to the assessment of bank value, and define the most appropriate methods to evaluate banks for IPO purposes. Conclusions. In general, the process of preparation and execution of banking IPOs is similar to IPO execution by other companies. However, the nature of economic activity of banks determines specific methods for assessing the value of banks for IPO purposes. Currently, there is no single preferred method for valuing banks, while there are certain aspects of the use of general methods to determine the value of credit institutions. For the valuation of companies for IPO, mainly comparative and income methods are used. For the valuation of banks, it is preferable to use the comparative method based on P/E and P/B multiples. As for the income method, it is recommended to use discounted cash flow valuation based on FCFE calculation, as well as the dividend discount model.

Public equity is an important source of risk capital, especially in China. The Chinese government has occasionally suspended IPOs, exposing firms already approved to IPO to indeterminate listing delays. The temporary bar on going public increases uncertainty about access to public markets for affected firms. We show that suspension-induced delay reduces corporate innovation activity both during the delay and for years after listing. Negative effects on tangible investment and positive effects on leverage are temporary, consistent with financial constraints during the suspensions being resolved after listing. Our results suggest that predictable, well-functioning IPO markets are important for firm value creation. They demonstrate that corporate innovation is cumulative and is negatively affected by policy uncertainty. This paper was accepted by Gustavo Manso, finance.

In this paper, we find that the conflict of interest between loan holders and bondholders is positively related to bond IPO underpricing, which serves as a compensation to the initial bond investors. We construct four proxies for the conflict between loan holders and bondholders, namely, a loan covenants index, the outstanding loan amount, the number of lead banks, and the loan remaining maturity. Our empirical tests show that all four variables are positively related to bond IPO underpricing, indicating that the loan structure of firms has a real impact on the pricing of their bond IPOs.

We argue that the pervasive practice of evaluating portfolio managers relative to a benchmark has real effects. Benchmarking generates additional, inelastic demand for assets inside the benchmark. This leads to a “benchmark inclusion subsidy:” a firm inside the benchmark values an investment project more than the one outside. The same wedge arises for valuing M&A, spinoffs, and IPOs. This overturns the proposition that an investment’s value is independent of the entity considering it. We describe the characteristics that determine the subsidy, quantify its size (which could be large), and identify empirical work supporting our model’s predictions.

In equity crowdfunding, firms raise capital online from a large pool of heterogeneous investors, thereby providing primary market opportunities similar to traditional public markets, such as initial public offerings. The development of secondary markets is instead still limited, making the post-offering perspectives of both crowdfunding investors and firms closer to private equity deals. We believe that equity crowdfunding markets provide an interesting setting where to test existing corporate finance and financial economics theories, as well as to develop new theoretical insights. Relatedly, our understanding of crowdfunding mechanisms can largely benefit from increased attention from finance scholars. This paper and special issue are an attempt in this direction.

Using a unique dataset, we examine financial performance, arid venture capital involvement in 167 MBOs exiting through IPOs (MBO-IPOs) on the London Stock Exchange, during the period 1964 -1997. VC backed MBOs seem to be more underpriced than MBOs without venture capital backing, based on average value-weighted returns. MBOs backed by highly reputable VCs tend to be older companies, and exit earlier than MBOs backed by less reputable VCs. The results contradict 'certification' and 'grandstanding' hypotheses supported by US data (Meggirison arid Weiss, 1991; arid Gompers, 1996, respectively). We found no evidence of either significant underperformance, or that VC backed MBOs perform better than their non-VC backed counterparts in the long run. However, MBOs backed by highly reputable venture capital firms seem to be better long-term investments as compared to those backed by less prestigious venture capitalist firms. The results remain robust after using different methods to measure performance, and after controlling for sample selectivity bias. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2005.

Football clubs are ostensibly uncomplicated organizations: they exist to facilitate participation in organized football. Beyond this plain statement, however, there is a rather more complex and contested debate about the objectives and purpose of football clubs. For example, what is meant by participation? Is taking part in football sufficient or does that participation require to be successful? If so, how do we define success? League championships? Domestic cup competitions? European competitions? Does a football club have a responsibility beyond its own members or supporters, perhaps to other clubs or to their local communities. At a broader level what do we mean by a‘club’?

This study investigates the effect of analysts’ recommendations and earnings forecasts for newly listed firms in the same industry. IPO underpricing is significantly lower as the number of firms whose investment recommendations are upgraded increases, supporting the contagion effect hypothesis that a high affinity for the industry has a positive effect on the IPO offer price. However, as the number of listed firms with higher earnings forecasts increases, IPO underpricing is higher, which supports the competitive effect hypothesis that the profit growth of competitors negatively affects IPO firms’ competitiveness. The effects vary depending on the competitive positions of both listed firms and IPO firms within the industry. The results also show that in industries with high concentration (i.e. low competition) , analyst information on listed firms has a greater contagion effect, while the competition effect hypothesis that better earnings forecasts for rival firms negatively affect IPO firms’ competitive position is not supported. This study contributes to the literature by analyzing the information spillover effect of analyst coverage in the IPO market by showing that the effects vary depending on the firms’ competitive positions as well as industry competition.

This paper aims at explaining why in a context characterized by a huge need for financing, managers are still reluctant to an Initial Public Offering. For that purpose, the data are collected from 42 companies, through a questionnaire. A Principal Component Analysis supplemented by an estimation, were used. The results show that managers have a positive perception of the stock market, but consider very high the associated costs. They also reveal a weak financial culture and the unfavorable business environment.

PurposeThis study aims to empirically validate that a knowledge-based view (KBV) is an important framework to understand price discovery processes in initial public offerings (IPOs) by emphasizing the unique feature of knowledge creation jointly invoked by underwriters and institutional investors during the book building phase.Design/methodology/approachThe authors decompose underwriters’ incremental knowledge acquisition into objective knowledge – acquired from premarket bids – and subjective knowledge – which is orthogonal to the objective knowledge. The authors implement a multiplicative heteroscedasticity model to analyze how each knowledge component relates to the level and volatility (as a proxy of pricing uncertainty) of post-issue returns. The authors take the 2007 regulatory change as a quasi-natural experiment in which institutional investors were incentivized to provide true information.FindingsFor Korean IPOs, the authors find that the objective (subjective) knowledge component reduces (increases) both pricing uncertainty and underpricing. The authors also observe that the efficacy of the IPO knowledge creation critically depends on the quality of the information provided by institutional investors, as anticipated by the KBV literature.Originality/valueUsing fine-grained knowledge measures, the authors provide original, compelling evidence that objective (subjective) knowledge formulated from the IPO knowledge-creation processes de facto alleviates (worsens) underwriters’ pricing difficulties. This reinforces the importance of knowledge-based mechanisms in managerial decision-making processes.

Market reacts differently to various factors ranging from economic political, and socio-cultural. The stock prices of quoted companies in Kenya are affected either positivity or negatively by a number of factors occurring within or without the economic system. Initial public offering is often issued by smaller, younger companies seeking the capital to expand, but can also be done by large privately owned companies looking to become publicly traded. The initial public offering is a vital step for young entrepreneurial firms, providing them access to the public equity market for the first time. Previous literature had focused primarily on initial public offering under-pricing phenomenon to measure the performance of companies. However, researchers argued that initial public offering pricing, which was a key factor in under-pricing had remained relatively unexplored in literature. The study employed descriptive research design. The study targeted a total population of 7 quoted companies in Nairobi security market, which had issued IPO from 2006-2020. The study depended on secondary data collected from the Nairobi Securities Exchange. Data was analysed by the use of SPSS. From the panel regression analysis, the interclass correlation (rho) was 0.310 implying that 31% of the variations in equity share prices are due to differences among the quoted firms. The within and between R-square was 0.0154 and 0.9967 respectively. The overall R2 was 0.9885, indicating that the variables considered in the model account for about 98.85% percent change in the dependent variables, while the remaining percent change may be as a result of other variables not addressed by this model. Dividend per share improved significantly after the IPO. Dividend per share was also established to improved significantly after the IPO. The study concludes that dividend per share, market capitalization and market liquidity improved in the post going public period. This is due to the proceeds received by companies from the sale of their shares to the public. In addition, the study concludes that firms benefit by going public despite potentially higher agency problems, at least for the first few years after the IPO. Becoming publicly traded provides financial capital to firms that helps them commercialize their products.

The article provides the analysis of current finance mechanisms of developing power systems in the context of acute necessity to start a new investment cycle. It draws a conclusion that state policy in the field of power engineering cannot foster the development of such mechanisms of its financing as state subsidies on purchase and installation of equipment, contracts on buying electricity and power-service contracts. The analysis of extra opportunities of raising investment showed expediency of developing green mechanisms of financing power engineering in Russia and motivating power companies to conduct IPO. The authors put forward recommendations aimed at attaining the acute objective to develop and implement key initiatives promoting the start of a new investment cycle in order to raise funds for modernizing the existing power projects and opening new ones in accordance with higher ecological requirements. For example, to stimulate the growth of Russian companies' IPO and realize the investment potential of the Russian stock market the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Economic Development study the possibility to introduce new tax preferences for investors and companies entering the market, which could ensure institutional support for investors and issuers.

Purpose This study aims to examine the impact of sponsors and democratic government on the flipping activity of initial public offerings (IPOs). Design/methodology/approach Based on the sample of 95 IPOs listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange between January 2000 and December 2019, this study used multiple cross-sectional regression to examine the relationship between sponsors and democratic government on flipping activity. Findings The findings indicate a significant negative association between sponsors and the flipping activity of IPOs. Sponsor(s) signal quality by trying to share accurate information about company values. As a result, the confidence of rational investors in the company’s future prospectus increases and they hold their shares for future gains, which reduces the flipping activity. Also, democratic government, along with sponsors' participation, provides investors with liquidity immediately after listing. Practical limitations/implications The findings of this study have implications for investors as they may assist them make informed decisions about whether or not to invest in an IPO with high sponsor(s) ownership. In addition, issuers should consider the disclosure of sponsor information(s) as such information may directly affect the first day’s trading volumes. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research study that explores the correlation between sponsors and democratic government and flipping activity of IPO. This study is important for investors and issuers.