The purpose of this paper is to examine the certification and monitoring motivations of third-party underwriting and its effects on credit spreads and earnings management of bank…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the certification and monitoring motivations of third-party underwriting and its effects on credit spreads and earnings management of bank issuers.
Design/methodology/approach
Ordinary least squares is used to examine the certification and monitoring effects of third-party underwriting. Furthermore, the Heckman two-stage estimation method is used in controlling the endogeneity of sample selection.
Findings
The authors find that financial bonds underwritten by third-party underwriters bear lower credit spreads due to their credibly ex ante certification and effectively ex post monitoring compared with self-underwriting. Moreover, the certification of third-party underwriters can help to select good quality bond issuers with lower earnings management, and the monitoring function also plays an essential role in constraining the behavior of earnings management after the bond issues.
Research limitations/implications
The findings in this study suggest that underwriting types (third-party underwriting) will affect financial bond yields and bank issuers’ earnings management.
Practical implications
On the one hand, the authors should encourage third-party underwriters to actively promote the certification and monitoring functions. For example, given commercial banks the chance to be underwriters when the bond issuers are investment banks, which is not allowed now in China’s financial bond market. On the other hand, the authors should cut off the quid pro quo relations within third-party underwriting because such relations will reduce the certification and monitoring effects of third-party underwriters.
Originality/value
This is the first study to distinguish the certification and monitoring effects by using unique data from China’s financial bond market. And the authors further investigate the adverse effects of quid pro quo relations (hiring each other as lead underwriters) on the certification and monitoring effects of third-party underwriters.
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Michael Smets, Gary Burke, Paula Jarzabkowski and Paul Spee
Increasing complexity, fragmentation, mobility, pace, and technological intermediation of organizational life make “being there” increasingly difficult. Where do ethnographers…
Abstract
Purpose
Increasing complexity, fragmentation, mobility, pace, and technological intermediation of organizational life make “being there” increasingly difficult. Where do ethnographers have to be, when, for how long, and with whom to “be there” and grasp the practices, norms, and values that make the situation meaningful to natives? These novel complexities call for new forms of organizational ethnography. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the above issues.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the authors respond to these calls for innovative ethnographic methods in two ways. First, the paper reports on the practices and ethnographic experiences of conducting a year-long team-based video ethnography of reinsurance trading in London.
Findings
Second, drawing on these experiences, the paper proposes a framework for systematizing new approaches to organizational ethnography and visualizing the ways in which they are “expanding” ethnography as it was traditionally practiced.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the ethnographic literature in three ways: first, the paper develops a framework for charting new approaches to ethnography and highlight its different dimensions – site, instrument, and fieldworker. Second, the paper outlines the opportunities and challenges associated with these expansions, specifically with regard to research design, analytical rigour, and communication of results. Third, drawing on the previous two contributions, the paper highlights configurations of methodological expansions on the aforementioned dimensions that are more promising than others in leveraging new technologies and approaches to claim new territory for organizational ethnography and enhance its relevance for understanding today's multifarious organizational realities.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine initial and long‐run returns of Japanese IPOs in particular venture capital (VC)‐backed and non‐VC‐backed. The main research focus is on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine initial and long‐run returns of Japanese IPOs in particular venture capital (VC)‐backed and non‐VC‐backed. The main research focus is on the performance of VC‐backed companies.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a comprehensive long‐run performance analysis. As such, it provides evidence using two performance methods: cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) and buy‐and‐hold return (BHARs). This paper uses updated data from 1998 through 2001 and presents a deeper understanding for the long‐run returns of Japanese IPOs.
Findings
The findings show that there is no statistically significant difference in the initial returns of VC‐backed and non‐VC‐backed companies. The evidence is inconsistent with the VC certification hypothesis that venture capitalists certify the true value of the firm and therefore reduce underpricing. Further, Japanese IPOs underperform in the long‐run. The fads hypothesis is applicable to explain the poor long‐run performance. The results suggest that although VC‐backed companies have high initial returns, they perform significantly worse over a three‐year time horizon than non‐VC‐backed companies.
Research limitations/implications
An examination of the lock‐up agreements is necessary to understand negative returns. The results of this paper provide a good starting point for such a study.
Practical implications
This paper highlights the stock returns of VC‐backed and non‐VC‐backed companies. It is hoped that investors and academics will benefit from the outcome of the current paper.
Originality/value
To date, there is no comprehensive study on the Japanese IPO market applying both CAR and BHAR long‐run measurements. This paper applies both measurements. Further, this is the first study of the long‐run performance of Japanese firms going public in Mothers and in Hercules stock markets.
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Hung‐Gay Fung, Pei‐Shan Tsai and Chin‐Ping Yu
We use over 200 firms in Taiwan to examine two issues: (1) how investors in Taiwan react to seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) when firms plan to make capital investments, and (2…
Abstract
We use over 200 firms in Taiwan to examine two issues: (1) how investors in Taiwan react to seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) when firms plan to make capital investments, and (2) factors driving the underwriting price of the stock offerings. Our results indicate that investors seem to have strong negative reactions to the SEOs announcement; they prefer alternative financings for firms with good profitability when they make capital investments. Several interesting results related to underpricing of SEOs are noted. First, larger firms and larger underwriters appear to have more underpricing. The number of underwriters will have a net positive effect on underpricing. Finally, the brokerage firm in comparing to the bank as the underwriter would yield a net positive effect on the underwriting price.
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Mohammed Abdullah Ammer and Nurwati A. Ahmad-Zaluki
Presently, one of the major governance issues faced by management and shareholders of organizations is the gender composition of the boards of directors and audit committees. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Presently, one of the major governance issues faced by management and shareholders of organizations is the gender composition of the boards of directors and audit committees. This study aims to examine the impact of gender diversity in audit committees on the accuracy of management earnings forecasts disclosure in initial public offering (IPO) prospectuses.
Design/methodology/approach
The study sample comprises 190 Malaysian companies issuing IPOs that transformed into public companies during the period 2002-2012. Earnings forecasts accuracy (quality) is proxied by absolute forecast error and the study model is developed based on the frameworks of the signalling theory, the agency theory and the resource-dependence theory.
Findings
The study proposes that female directors introduce a set of specific features in the boardroom that serve to improve investor protection and efficient monitoring of management. However, findings reveal an insignificantly positive relationship between gender diversity in audit committees and absolute forecast error, which shows that more female directors in audit committees could translate into more errors and less accuracy in earnings forecasts.
Practical implications
Considering the recent regulatory developments that encourage the number of women on the board of directors, the findings obtained have significant implications for policymakers. The study findings can also be invaluable to investors, investment analysts, market players and researchers.
Originality/value
The composition of the board of directors and audit committees in terms of gender plays a significant role in the promotion of effective corporate governance practices. This study is one of the pioneering studies that examines the advantages of gender diversity in the board of directors. It is also the first study to extend IPO literature by investigating the role of gender diversity in audit committees in the enhancement of accurate management earnings forecasts included in the IPO prospectuses.
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In the spring of 2004, Google was one of the most-talked-about IPO ideas since Netscape had gone public in 1995. Bullish investors believed Google could set off a string of…
Abstract
In the spring of 2004, Google was one of the most-talked-about IPO ideas since Netscape had gone public in 1995. Bullish investors believed Google could set off a string of successful IPOs following a lull in tech-offering activity since 2000. Executives at Google faced several questions in the following months: Should Google go public? What options did Google have for taking its shares to market? Was the traditional form of book-building necessarily the best course of action? Could a sealed-bid auction (e.g., W.R. Hambrecht's OpenIPO) yield superior results?
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Chui Zi Ong, Rasidah Mohd-Rashid and Kamarun Nisham Taufil-Mohd
The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of underwriter reputation on the valuation of Malaysian initial public offerings (IPOs).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of underwriter reputation on the valuation of Malaysian initial public offerings (IPOs).
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed cross-sectional multiple regression models to analyse the relationship between underwriter reputation and IPO valuation that included 466 IPOs listed on Bursa Malaysia from 2000 to 2017.
Findings
The results revealed that underwriter reputation had a significant negative association with IPO valuation. Firms that engaged the services of reputable underwriters had their IPO offer prices set lower than the intrinsic values during the listing. After incorporating firms' size, this study found a positive relationship between underwriter reputation and IPO valuation. Big firms (high quality) hired reputable underwriters for certification purposes as issuers were aware that the cost of hiring a reputable underwriter would be justified by increased transparency after listing. Therefore, firms that engaged reputable underwriters had approximately fair values since issuers assumed that the price would be close to the intrinsic value following enhanced transparency post-listing.
Research limitations/implications
Future studies should focus on other non-financial factors, such as auditor reputation.
Originality/value
The present study provides new insights into the certification role of underwriters in valuing IPOs in the Malaysian market.
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Bazeet Olayemi Badru, Nurwati A. Ahmad-Zaluki and Wan Nordin Wan-Hussin
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether or not the presence of female directors at the time of an initial public offering (IPO) can be considered as a signal of IPO…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether or not the presence of female directors at the time of an initial public offering (IPO) can be considered as a signal of IPO quality.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 220 Malaysian IPOs over the period of 2005–2015 was used. This study employed the mean regression technique (ordinary least squares and White’s heteroskedasticity-consistent standard errors) and the median regression technique (quantile regression) to examine the signalling power of female directors on the board at the time of an IPO.
Findings
The results show that the presence and proportion of female directors at the time of the IPO have negative effects on IPO initial returns (IR). The negative effects occur at both the conditional mean and the dispersion of IPO IR. These results are robust to endogeneity bias.
Practical implications
The findings of this study suggest that female directors on the board at the time of an IPO can be considered as a desirable signal of IPO quality. As a result, IPO issuers can consider signalling the quality of their IPOs by having female directors on their boards. Likewise, market participants can use female directors as an instrument to value an IPO.
Originality/value
Studies on the impact of female directors on the board have largely been centred on established companies. Thus, this study contributes to the literature by examining the signalling role of women at the time of an IPO, which is considered as a significant milestone in the lifecycle of a company.
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Diego Escobari and Alejandro Serrano
The purpose of this paper is to model asymmetric information and study the profitability of venture capital (VC) backed initial public offerings (IPOs). The mixtures approach…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to model asymmetric information and study the profitability of venture capital (VC) backed initial public offerings (IPOs). The mixtures approach endogenously separates IPOs into differentiated groups based on their returns’ determinants. The authors also analyze the factors that affect the probability that IPOs belong to a specific group.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors propose a new method to model asymmetric information between investors and firms in VC backed IPOs. The approach allows the authors to identify differentiated companies under incomplete information. The authors use a sample of 2,404 US firms from 1980 through 2012 to estimate the mixture model via maximum likelihood.
Findings
The authors find strong evidence that companies can be separated into two groups based on how IPO returns are determined. For companies in the first group the results are similar to previous studies. For companies in the second group the authors find that profitability is mainly affected by the reputation of the seed VC and capital expenditures. Tangible assets and age help explain group affiliation. The authors also motivate the findings for a continuum of heterogeneous IPO groups.
Practical implications
The proposed mixture approach helps decrease asymmetric information for investors, regulators, and companies.
Originality/value
The mixture methods help decrease asymmetric information between investors and firms improving the probability of making profitable investments. Separating between groups of IPOs is crucial because different determinants of an IPO operating performance can potentially have opposite effects for different groups.
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In order to succeed in an action under the Equal Pay Act 1970, should the woman and the man be employed by the same employer on like work at the same time or would the woman still…
Abstract
In order to succeed in an action under the Equal Pay Act 1970, should the woman and the man be employed by the same employer on like work at the same time or would the woman still be covered by the Act if she were employed on like work in succession to the man? This is the question which had to be solved in Macarthys Ltd v. Smith. Unfortunately it was not. Their Lordships interpreted the relevant section in different ways and since Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome was also subject to different interpretations, the case has been referred to the European Court of Justice.