IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/corfin/v87y2024ics0929119924000877.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Underwriter incentives and IPO pricing

Author

Listed:
  • Espenlaub, Susanne
  • Mohamed, Abdulkadir
  • Saadouni, Brahim

Abstract

We examine the impact of incentive fees paid to IPO underwriters at issuers' discretion on IPO pricing and short-term performance. We expect that better-incentivized underwriters produce more information required for IPO pricing reducing underwriters' reliance on investors' information production which requires compensation through IPO underpricing. Using a novel dataset, we find that incentive compensation mitigates the partial-adjustment phenomenon. IPOs with stronger incentives have more informative price ranges, higher price revisions, longer road shows and lower initial returns largely due to interaction effects between underwriters' incentives and their information-production capabilities. Using a battery of tests and addressing endogeneity, our results remain robust.

Suggested Citation

  • Espenlaub, Susanne & Mohamed, Abdulkadir & Saadouni, Brahim, 2024. "Underwriter incentives and IPO pricing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:87:y:2024:i:c:s0929119924000877
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2024.102625
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929119924000877
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2024.102625?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mazouz, Khelifa & Mohamed, Abdulkadir & Saadouni, Brahim & Yin, Shuxing, 2017. "Underwriters' allocation with and without discretionary power: Evidence from the Hong Kong IPO market," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 128-137.
    2. Jenkinson, Tim & Morrison, Alan D. & Wilhelm, William Jr., 2006. "Why are European IPOs so rarely priced outside the indicative price range?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 185-209, April.
    3. Beatty, Randolph P. & Ritter, Jay R., 1986. "Investment banking, reputation, and the underpricing of initial public offerings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1-2), pages 213-232.
    4. Espenlaub, Susanne & Khurshed, Arif & Mohamed, Abdulkadir & Saadouni, Brahim, 2016. "Committed anchor investment and IPO survival – The roles of cornerstone and strategic investors," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 139-155.
    5. Ljungqvist, Alexander P. & Wilhelm, William Jr., 2002. "IPO allocations: discriminatory or discretionary?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 167-201, August.
    6. Liu, Xiaoding & Ritter, Jay R., 2011. "Local underwriter oligopolies and IPO underpricing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(3), pages 579-601.
    7. Hsuan‐Chi Chen & Jay R. Ritter, 2000. "The Seven Percent Solution," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(3), pages 1105-1131, June.
    8. Hainmueller, Jens, 2012. "Entropy Balancing for Causal Effects: A Multivariate Reweighting Method to Produce Balanced Samples in Observational Studies," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 25-46, January.
    9. Shane A. Corwin & Paul Schultz, 2005. "The Role of IPO Underwriting Syndicates: Pricing, Information Production, and Underwriter Competition," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 443-486, February.
    10. Lily Hua Fang, 2005. "Investment Bank Reputation and the Price and Quality of Underwriting Services," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(6), pages 2729-2761, December.
    11. Brennan, M. J. & Franks, J., 1997. "Underpricing, ownership and control in initial public offerings of equity securities in the UK," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 391-413, September.
    12. Yung, Chris & Çolak, Gönül & Wei Wang, 2008. "Cycles in the IPO market," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 192-208, July.
    13. Booth, James R. & Smith, Richard II, 1986. "Capital raising, underwriting and the certification hypothesis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1-2), pages 261-281.
    14. Baron, David P, 1982. "A Model of the Demand for Investment Banking Advising and Distribution Services for New Issues," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 37(4), pages 955-976, September.
    15. Mark Abrahamson & Tim Jenkinson & Howard Jones, 2011. "Why Don't U.S. Issuers Demand European Fees for IPOs?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(6), pages 2055-2082, December.
    16. Franҫois Derrien, 2005. "IPO Pricing in “Hot” Market Conditions: Who Leaves Money on the Table?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 487-521, February.
    17. Kathleen Weiss Hanley, 2010. "The Information Content of IPO Prospectuses," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(7), pages 2821-2864, July.
    18. Jay R. Ritter, 2011. "Equilibrium in the Initial Public Offerings Market," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 3(1), pages 347-374, December.
    19. Baron, David P., 1979. "The incentive problem and the design of investment banking contracts," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 157-175, July.
    20. Benveniste, Lawrence M. & Spindt, Paul A., 1989. "How investment bankers determine the offer price and allocation of new issues," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 343-361.
    21. Alex Edmans & Xavier Gabaix, 2009. "Is CEO Pay Really Inefficient? A Survey of New Optimal Contracting Theories," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 15(3), pages 486-496, June.
    22. Evgeny Lyandres & Fangjian Fu & Erica X. N. Li, 2018. "Do Underwriters Compete in IPO Pricing?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(2), pages 925-954, February.
    23. Francesca Cornelli & David Goldreich, 2003. "Bookbuilding: How Informative Is the Order Book?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(4), pages 1415-1443, August.
    24. Hanley, Kathleen Weiss, 1993. "The underpricing of initial public offerings and the partial adjustment phenomenon," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 231-250, October.
    25. Welch, Ivo, 1992. "Sequential Sales, Learning, and Cascades," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 695-732, June.
    26. Tim Jenkinson & Howard Jones & Felix Suntheim, 2018. "Quid Pro Quo? What Factors Influence IPO Allocations to Investors?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(5), pages 2303-2341, October.
    27. Chemmanur, Thomas J & Fulghieri, Paolo, 1994. "Investment Bank Reputation, Information Production, and Financial Intermediation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(1), pages 57-79, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Evgeny Lyandres & Fangjian Fu & Erica X. N. Li, 2018. "Do Underwriters Compete in IPO Pricing?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(2), pages 925-954, February.
    2. Agathee, Ushad Subadar & Sannassee, Raja Vinesh & Brooks, Chris, 2012. "The underpricing of IPOs on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 281-303.
    3. Fouad Jamaani & Manal Alidarous, 2019. "Review of Theoretical Explanations of IPO Underpricing," Journal of Accounting, Business and Finance Research, Scientific Publishing Institute, vol. 6(1), pages 1-18.
    4. Patrick M. Corrigan, 2022. "Does an initial public offering (IPO) issuer's Securities and Exchange Commission registration fee calculation method predict pricing revisions and IPO underpricing?," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(4), pages 1114-1147, December.
    5. Fernando, Chitru S. & Gatchev, Vladimir A. & May, Anthony D. & Megginson, William L., 2015. "Prestige without purpose? Reputation, differentiation, and pricing in U.S. equity underwriting," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 41-63.
    6. Dorsman, André & Gounopoulos, Dimitrios, 2013. "European Sovereign Debt Crisis and the performance of Dutch IPOs," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 308-319.
    7. Gullapalli, Rachita & Knyazeva, Anzhela, 2020. "Foreign issuers in emerging growth company IPOs," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    8. Vithanage, Kulunu & Neupane, Suman & Chung, Richard, 2016. "Multiple lead underwriting syndicate and IPO pricing," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 193-208.
    9. Klein, Peter G. & Wuebker, Robert & Zoeller, Kathrin, 2016. "Relationship banking and conflicts of interest: Evidence from German initial public offerings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 210-221.
    10. Carbó-Valverde, Santiago & Cuadros-Solas, Pedro J. & Rodríguez-Fernández, Francisco, 2021. "Non-pricing drivers of underwriters’ market shares in corporate bond markets," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 671-693.
    11. Klova, Valeriia, 2017. "IPO underpricing: What about the shipping sector?," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 42, pages 95-115.
    12. Jones, Steven L. & Yeoman, John C., 2014. "Initial uncertainty and the risk of setting a fixed-offer price: Implications for the pricing of bookbuilt and best-efforts IPOs," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 194-215.
    13. Alastair Marsden & Zoltan Murgulov & S Ghon Rhee & Madhu Veeraraghavan, 2024. "Underwriting in the Australian IPO markets: Determinants and pricing," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 49(3), pages 403-427, August.
    14. He, Jingbin & Ma, Xinru & Liao, Jingchi, 2021. "Preference for bid time in hybrid auctioned IPOs: Evidence from China," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    15. Michael O'Connor Keefe & David Gallagher, 2014. "Does the effect of revealed private information on initial public offering (IPO) first trading day return differ by IPO market heat?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 54(3), pages 921-964, September.
    16. Jay R. Ritter & Ivo Welch, 2002. "A Review of IPO Activity, Pricing, and Allocations," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(4), pages 1795-1828, August.
    17. Huang, Rongbing & Shangguan, Zhaoyun & Zhang, Donghang, 2008. "The networking function of investment banks: Evidence from private investments in public equity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 738-752, December.
    18. Smart, Scott B. & Zutter, Chad J., 2003. "Control as a motivation for underpricing: a comparison of dual and single-class IPOs," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 85-110, July.
    19. Pons-Sanz, Vicente, 2005. "Who benefits from IPO underpricing? Evidence form hybrid bookbuilding offerings," Working Paper Series 428, European Central Bank.
    20. Luca Pennacchio, 2013. "The role of venture capital in Italian IPOs," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(4), pages 2528-2539.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:87:y:2024:i:c:s0929119924000877. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jcorpfin .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.