EQUITY ISSUANCE AND CORPORATE DIVIDEND POLICY IN EMERGING ECONOMY CONTEXT

This article explores links between the size of a company, industrial 9 sector in which a company operates, concentration of capital, size of business 10 and emission and dividend policy in the Ukrainian corporate sector. Guided by 11 insights from the bird-in-hand theory, clientele theory, signaling theory, and 12 agency theory, we justify factors that determine the choice of shares’ 13 placement by Ukrainian public joint stock companies and forming of their 14 dividend policy related to the current operating conditions of the Ukrainian 15 corporate sector. Using mathematical approach of tree classification 16 construction in the form of random forest algorithm, we found out that 17 maximization of the share capital value, that is involved in shares issuance 18 of Ukrainian PJSCs, is not a priority for owners of corporate rights. 86.1 per 19 cent of companies have selected private placements of shares. In the non20 financial sector, 87.5 per cent of companies opted private placements. 21 The study revealed also only a small share (3.5%) of Ukrainian joint stock 22 companies paid dividends to shareholders. However, the dividend policy 23 of Ukrainian joint stock companies changed when they listed their shares on 24 foreign stock markets. In this case two thirds of explored firms paid dividends. 25