IPO Firm Characteristics Pre- and Post-Financial Crisis
16 Pages Posted: 11 Jul 2013
Date Written: July 10, 2013
Abstract
The global financial crisis of 2008-2009 precipitated one of the longest IPO “droughts” in history; from September 2008 until May 2009 only eight new issues came to market in the United States. While the phenomenon of hot- and cold-IPO market cycles has been widely documented, there has been a prevailing sentiment in the financial press that "this time is different." Numerous IPO market professionals have expressed the opinion that regulatory changes, in combination with changes in investor sentiment, have changed the dynamic of the IPO marketplace. According to that viewpoint, new issues brought to market in the post-crisis period have been subjected to more intense scrutiny from investors and regulators, and that navigating the IPO process has, in various ways, become more challenging. By comparing various financial characteristics of firms going public before and after the peak of the financial crisis, we seek to determine whether the supposed changes have in fact altered the standards used by underwriters in bringing firms to market.
Keywords: Financial performance, Initial Public Offering (IPOs), global financial crisis
JEL Classification: G14
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation