IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/cfswop/201202.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Going public - going private: The case of VC-backed firms

Author

Listed:
  • Gill, Andrej
  • Walz, Uwe

Abstract

We investigate the decisions of listed firms to go private once again. We start by revealing that while a significant number of firms which go public is VC-backed, an overproportional share of these VC-backed firms go private later on (they stay on the exchange for an average of 8.5 years). We interpret this very robust pattern such that IPOs of VC-backed firms are to a large extent a temporary rather than a permanent feature of the corporate governance of these firms. We investigate various potential hypotheses why VCs actually seem to be able to bring marginal firms to the exchange by relating the going-private decisions to various characteristics of the IPO market as well as to VC characteristics. We find strong support for the certification ability of VCs: more experienced and reputable VCs are more able to bring marginal firms to public exchanges via an IPOs. These marginal firms backed-by more reputable and experienced VCs are more likely to go private later on. Hence, our analysis suggests that IPOs backed by experienced VCs are most likely to be a temporary rather than the final stage in the life of the portfolio firm. We find no support that reputable VCs underprice their IPO-exits more implying that they have no need to leave more money on the table to take the marginal firms public.

Suggested Citation

  • Gill, Andrej & Walz, Uwe, 2012. "Going public - going private: The case of VC-backed firms," CFS Working Paper Series 2012/02, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:cfswop:201202
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/57343/1/685288048.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ritter, Jay R, 1984. "The "Hot Issue" Market of 1980," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(2), pages 215-240, April.
    2. Mark Grinblatt & Chuan Yang Hwang, "undated". "Signalling and the Pricing of Unseasoned New Issues," Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research Working Papers 1-89, Wharton School Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research.
    3. Cochrane, John H., 2005. "The risk and return of venture capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 3-52, January.
    4. repec:cup:jfinqa:v:46:y:2011:i:06:p:1755-1793_00 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Lin, Timothy H. & Smith, Richard L., 1998. "Insider reputation and selling decisions: the unwinding of venture capital investments during equity IPOs," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 241-263, September.
    6. Hamid Mehran & Stavros Peristiani, 2010. "Financial Visibility and the Decision to Go Private," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(2), pages 519-547, February.
    7. Nahata, Rajarishi, 2008. "Venture capital reputation and investment performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 127-151, November.
    8. Barry, Christopher B. & Muscarella, Chris J. & Peavy, John III & Vetsuypens, Michael R., 1990. "The role of venture capital in the creation of public companies*1: Evidence from the going-public process," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 447-471, October.
    9. Bayar, Onur & Chemmanur, Thomas J., 2011. "IPOs versus Acquisitions and the Valuation Premium Puzzle: A Theory of Exit Choice by Entrepreneurs and Venture Capitalists," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(6), pages 1755-1793, December.
    10. Giot, Pierre & Schwienbacher, Armin, 2007. "IPOs, trade sales and liquidations: Modelling venture capital exits using survival analysis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 679-702, March.
    11. repec:bla:jfinan:v:44:y:1989:i:2:p:393-420 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Black, Bernard S. & Gilson, Ronald J., 1998. "Venture capital and the structure of capital markets: banks versus stock markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 243-277, March.
    13. Philippe Aghion & Patrick Bolton & Jean Tirole, 2004. "Exit Options in Corporate Finance: Liquidity versus Incentives," Review of Finance, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 327-353.
    14. Brav, Alon & Gompers, Paul A, 1997. "Myth or Reality? The Long-Run Underperformance of Initial Public Offerings: Evidence from Venture and Nonventure Capital-Backed Companies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(5), pages 1791-1821, December.
    15. Jeng, Leslie A. & Wells, Philippe C., 2000. "The determinants of venture capital funding: evidence across countries," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 241-289, September.
    16. Thomas J. Chemmanur & Shan He & Debarshi K. Nandy, 2010. "The Going-Public Decision and the Product Market," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(5), pages 1855-1908.
    17. Douglas Cumming, 2008. "Contracts and Exits in Venture Capital Finance," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(5), pages 1947-1982, September.
    18. Luigi Zingales, 1995. "Insider Ownership and the Decision to Go Public," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 62(3), pages 425-448.
    19. Cumming, Douglas & Johan, Sofia Atiqah binti, 2008. "Preplanned exit strategies in venture capital," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(7), pages 1209-1241, October.
    20. Gompers, Paul A., 1996. "Grandstanding in the venture capital industry," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 133-156, September.
    21. Lerner, Joshua, 1994. "Venture capitalists and the decision to go public," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 293-316, June.
    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. Gill, Andrej & Walz, Uwe, 2016. "Are VC-backed IPOs delayed trade sales?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 356-374.
    2. Rin, Marco Da & Hellmann, Thomas & Puri, Manju, 2013. "A Survey of Venture Capital Research," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 573-648, Elsevier.
    3. Andrew Metrick & Ayako Yasuda, 2011. "Venture Capital and Other Private Equity: a Survey," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 17(4), pages 619-654, September.
    4. Wang, Lanfang & Wang, Susheng, 2012. "Economic freedom and cross-border venture capital performance," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 26-50.
    5. Chortareas, Georgios E. & Girardone, Claudia & Ventouri, Alexia, 2013. "Financial freedom and bank efficiency: Evidence from the European Union," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1223-1231.
    6. Sunny Hahn & Jina Kang, 2017. "Complementary or conflictory?: the effects of the composition of the syndicate on venture capital-backed IPOs in the US stock market," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 44(1), pages 77-102, March.
    7. Johannes Wallmeroth & Peter Wirtz & Alexander Peter Groh, 2017. "Institutional Seed Financing, Angel Financing, and Crowdfunding of Entrepreneurial Ventures: A Literature Review," Working Papers hal-01527999, HAL.
    8. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Lerner, Josh, 2010. "The Financing of R&D and Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 609-639, Elsevier.
    9. Hsu, Hung-Chia Scott, 2013. "Technology timing of IPOs and venture capital incubation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 36-55.
    10. Wang, Lanfang & Wang, Susheng, 2017. "Buybacks as an efficient strategy for venture capital in emerging markets," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 107-123.
    11. Giot, Pierre & Schwienbacher, Armin, 2007. "IPOs, trade sales and liquidations: Modelling venture capital exits using survival analysis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 679-702, March.
    12. Cumming, Douglas J. & MacIntosh, Jeffrey G., 2003. "A cross-country comparison of full and partial venture capital exits," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 511-548, March.
    13. Di Guo & Kun Jiang & Xiaoting Mai, 2015. "Venture Capital Investment and the Post-IPO Performance of Entrepreneurial Firms: Evidence from the People's Republic of China," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 32(1), pages 113-141, March.
    14. Reber, Beat & Vencappa, Dev, 2016. "Deliberate premarket underpricing and aftermarket mispricing: New insights on IPO pricing," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 18-33.
    15. Wang, Lanfang & Wang, Susheng, 2011. "Cross-border venture capital performance: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 71-97, January.
    16. Ranko Jelic & Brahim Saadouni & Mike Wright, 2005. "Performance of Private to Public MBOs: The Role of Venture Capital," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3‐4), pages 643-682, April.
    17. Carolin Bock & Maximilian Schmidt, 2015. "Should I stay, or should I go? – How fund dynamics influence venture capital exit decisions," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(1), pages 68-82, November.
    18. Lohwasser, Todor S., 2020. "Meta-analyzing the relative performance of venture capital-backed firms," Discussion Papers of the Institute for Organisational Economics 4/2020, University of Münster, Institute for Organisational Economics.
    19. Sun, Yue & Uchida, Konari & Matsumoto, Mamoru, 2013. "The dark side of independent venture capitalists: Evidence from Japan," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 279-300.
    20. Ann-Kristin Achleitner & Reiner Braun & Eva Lutz & Uwe Reiner, 2014. "Industry relatedness in trade sales and venture capital investment returns," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 621-637, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Going-private decisions; VC-backed IPOs; corporate governance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • D80 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:zbw:cfswop:201202. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ifkcfde.html .

    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.