IPOs only offer a partial exit to Venture Capitalists (VCs). When a VC-backed company goes public, the VC typically refrains from selling all shares at the IPO. Due to the high levels of information asymmetry at the IPO, selling a large fraction of the holdings sends a negative signal concerning the company’s valuation. Iliev and… Read More »
Why is it So Costly to Go Public? The average first-day returns to investors of initial public offerings (“IPOs”) in the U.S. is 19%. These returns are even higher elsewhere, such as in China. For reference, the S&P 500 index gains only a few basis points a day on average. While a large one-day return… Read More »
The management board of a company rings the bell on the stock exchange floor in an evocative manner. Trading on the stock exchange has finally begun following months of the issuing process. But does the positive experience of ringing the stock market bell really persist throughout the day? No, not all IPOs go according to… Read More »
Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) IPO volumes have surged in recent years (Figure 1). In 2020-2021, SPAC’s IPO volume reached more than $200 billion. Merging with a SPAC has become an important mechanism for private companies to go public. Since 2010, 417 SPACs have merged or announced a merger with private firms. These mergers created… Read More »
Imagine a company that invests in a portfolio of long-term financial assets. This company’s asset portfolio is, relative to the asset management industry, highly concentrated—a circumstance which naturally heightens the appetite of the company’s own investors to know more details of the assets in the portfolio. The company operates in an adolescent industry, and neither… Read More »
To facilitate small and high growth firms in need of finance, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) introduced a secondary market, the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), in 1995. The AIM is a lightly regulated market, with minimum eligibility criteria and ongoing obligations, which was initially considered to be a stepping-stone to the traditionally regulated Main Market… Read More »
The financial media provides information to investors by monitoring firms for malfeasance, such as fraud and excessive CEO pay (Miller, 2006; Core, Guay, and Larcker, 2008). The media also helps investors monitor more mundane corporate activities, such as periodic earnings announcements. However, it is unclear why certain firms get extensive media coverage, along with the resulting benefits,… Read More »
There is no lack of interest in new technologies such as distributed ledger technology (DLT) or smart contract technology (SCT). For enthusiasts, DLT and SCT are full of promise. Thanks to technology, the future is meant to be frictionless and more decentralized. However, interest in the “plumbing” underneath, which is required to implement the vision… Read More »
The following post summarizes a comment letter to the SEC on its proposed rule to shorten the required filing time for disclosing the acquisition of more than five percent equity share in a public company. All comments can be found here. Under the Modernization of Beneficial Ownership Reporting (proposed rule), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeks to shorten… Read More »
In 2021, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) launched an immunity policy for certain market misconduct offenses, including insider trading and market manipulation. The ASIC immunity policy grants a full exemption from civil and criminal sanctions (specifically immunity) to individuals who have colluded with others to contravene a provision of Part 7.10 of the Corporations Act 2001.… Read More »
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