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The Underpricing of Insurance IPOs
Author(s) -
Wang Qiming,
Ligon James A.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
financial management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.647
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1755-053X
pISSN - 0046-3892
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-053x.2009.01037.x
Subject(s) - initial public offering , business , information asymmetry , stock (firearms) , monetary economics , stock price , finance , economics , mechanical engineering , paleontology , series (stratigraphy) , engineering , biology
The previous literature documents that insurance initial public offerings (IPOs) are less underpriced than those of noninsurance firms. This difference is usually attributed to lower information asymmetry for regulated firms. However, we find that once one controls for the file price adjustment insurance IPOs, both stock and mutual, are no less underpriced than other noninsurance offerings suggesting the book‐building process resolves any such information asymmetries. We also find that mutual IPOs appear more underpriced than stock insurance IPOs, but this difference is related to the differences in pre‐issue managerial ownership.