In 2000 more companies listed in Europe than in the US. This is mainly due to the success of quot;newquot; stock markets designed for high-growth companies. In this paper we analyse a sample of 482 Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), listed on five quot;newquot; European stock markets up to March 2001. We investigate the determinants of their first-day returns. We find a mean first-day return (underpricing) equal to +38.09%. Market returns, the IPO firm's risk and price revisions in the premarket are positively related to first-day returns, whereas IPO deal flow shows is inversely related to underpricing. We also show that the Internet euphoria impacts first-day returns.

The Initial Public Offering (IPO) marks one of the most important events of a company. Basically, the aim is to generate maximum proceeds by selling the company’s shares to investors. However, the shares that are sold seem to be underpriced as the price significantly soars on the first trading day. Since the very first detection of this phenomenon in the United States in 1969, several subsequent studies have documented the existence of worldwide IPO underpricing. This study focuses on IPO Underpricing in the European and United States Stock Markets by outlining and discussing the following essential issues: What is underpricing in the context of the IPO? Which motivations are there and how do they impact? Is there IPO underpricing in the markets of Europe and the United States of America?

In this timely volume on newly emerging financial mar- kets and investment strategies, Arvin Ghosh explores the intriguing topic of initial public offerings (IPOs) of securities, among the most significant phenomena in the United States stock markets in recent years. Before the 2000-2001 market turndown, hardly a week went by when more than a few companies did not become public, either in the organized stock exchange or in the Over the Counter (OTC) market. In the often over-burdened, technology-heavy Nasdaq market, the role of IPOs was crucial for the market's new vigor and growth. Internet stocks were able to find a mode to supply key momentum to the market. In the so-called "New Economy" of the 1990s, it was the seductively accessible IPO that ushered in the world's information technology revolution.Ghosh sets out to examine the pricing and financial performance of IPOs in the United States during the period 1990-2001. In the opening chapter he discusses the rise and fall of IPOs in the preceding decade. Chapter 2 further delineates the IPO process from the start of the prospectus to the end of the "quiet period" and aftermarket stabilization. In chapter 3 Ghosh analyzes the mispricing and deliberately deceptive underpricing, or "flipping," of Internet IPOs. Chapter 4 delves deeper into the pricing and operating efficiency of Nasdaq IPOs. Chapter 5 analyzes the pricing and long-run performance of IPOs both in the New York Stock Exchange and in the Nasdaq markets. In chapters 6 and 7 the author deals with the pricing and performance of the venture-blocked and nonventure-backed IPOs in general and Internet IPOs in particular. In chapter 8 he analyzes the role of underwriters as market makers. In chapter 9 Ghosh discusses the accuracy of analysts' earnings forecasts. In the concluding chapter, he summarizes the principal findings of the study and the recent revival of the IPO market and its place in capital formation as well as the latest developments in t

The advent of new stock markets (the German Neuer Markt, the French Nouveau Marche, the Italian Nuovo Mercato and Nasdaq Europe) has been one of the most important reforms of stock exchanges in Continental Europe in the 1990s. These stock markets aimed at attracting early stage, innovative and high-growth firms that would not have been viable candidates for public equity financing on the main markets of European stock exchanges. Of these new markets, the Neuer Markt emerged as Europe's answer to NASDAQ. However, Europe's new stock markets met with only limited success. Stock prices plummeted after the ending of the stock market bubble and new markets suffered from poor liquidity, insider trading scandals and accounting frauds. This volume provides an overview of the rise and fall of Europe's new stock markets. It contains twelve papers which investigate the characteristics, the ownership structure and the market performance of companies in the short and long run. In addition this volume examines the role of venture capitalists. New stock markets offered venture capitalists an attractive exit for their investments and helped to create a more vibrant venture capital industry in Europe. The private equity market in Europe today is as large as it was just before the advent of new stock markets. As such, the need for stock markets that allow private equity investors to divest their equity stakes in growth companies continues to exist.

An initial public offering (IPO) is one of the most significant events in corporate life. It follows months, even years of preparation. During the boom years of the late 1990s bull market, IPOs of growth companies captured the imagination and pocketbooks of investors like never before. This book goes behind the scenes to examine the process of an offering from the decision to go public to the procedures of a subsequent equity offering. The book is written from the perspective of an experienced investment banker describing the hows and whys of IPOs and subsequent equity issues. Each aspect of an IPO is illustrated with plenty of international examples pitched alongside relevant academic research to offer a combination of theoretical rigour and practical application. Topics covered are: - the decision to go public- legal and regulatory aspects of an offering; marketing and research- valuation and pricing- allocations of shares to investors - examination of fees and commissions * Global perpective: UK, European and US practices, regulations and examples, and case studies* First hand experience written by an IPO trader with academic rigour* Includes the changes in the market that resulted from 1998-2000 equity boom

Initial public offerings (IPOs) play a crucial role in allocating resources in market economies. Because of the enormous importance of IPOs, an understanding of how IPOs work is fundamental to an understanding of financial markets generally. Of particular interest is the puzzling existence of high initial returns to equity IPOs in the United States and other free-market economies. Audience: Designed for use by anyone wishing to perform further academic research in the area of IPOs and by those practitioners interested in IPOs as investment vehicles.