Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) are unique economic and governance events as privately held firms issue common stock or shares to the public for the first time. The governance issues surrounding IPOs are relatively unexamined compared to more established, and usually larger, firms. As such, they provide a unique context to study corporate governance and its development around the world. Based on a collaborative international research project, this book analyses the corporate governance of IPOs in twenty-one countries, each of which is characterized by different governance environments and different levels of IPO activity. The end result is a broad and deep assessment of governance practices and IPO activity for an array of economies that represent roughly 80 percent of the global economy. These chapters collectively provide new insights into what a global theory of corporate governance might look like and offer guidance to policy makers and academics regarding national governance configurations.

A major international study on corporate governance and Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) in twenty-one countries.

Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) are unique economic and governance events as privately held firms issue common stock or shares to the public for the first time. The governance issues surrounding IPOs are relatively unexamined compared to more established, and usually larger, firms. As such, they provide a unique context to study corporate governance and its development around the world. Based on a collaborative international research project, this book analyses the corporate governance of IPOs in twenty-one countries, each of which is characterized by different governance environments and different levels of IPO activity. The end result is a broad and deep assessment of governance practices and IPO activity for an array of economies that represent roughly 80 percent of the global economy. These chapters collectively provide new insights into what a global theory of corporate governance might look like and offer guidance to policy makers and academics regarding national governance configurations.

In a corporations financial life going public by means of an IPO is probably the single most important decision. It turns a private company into a public one. Our book will provide an inside view of the IPO process. On the one hand, it draws on the insights of an experienced investment banker, who has gone through numerous IPO transactions. On the other hand, it relates the story of an actual IPO through the eyes of a Chief Executive Officer who has taken two of his companies public. This unique double perspective is our books defining feature. We do not discuss initial public offerings in a textbook style fashion. What we would like to bring out is a more comprehensive portrayal of a once-in-a-lifetime event for most companies and their management, alike.

After the cooling off of IPOs since the dot com bubble, Google has rekindled the fire for IPOs. This IPO reader contains new articles exclusive to this reader by leading academics from around the world dealing with quantitative and qualitative analyses of this increasingly popular and important area of finance. Articles address new methods of IPO performance, international IPOs, IPO evaluation, IPO underwriting, evaluation and bookbuilding. Although numerous articles are technical in nature, with econometric and statistical models, particular attention has been directed towards the understanding and the applicability of the results as well as theoretical development in this area. This reader will assist researchers, academics, and graduate students to further understand the latest research on IPOs. *Interest in IPOs is increasing again after the Google IPO, and IPOs are up significantly from last year *Chapters by well known academics provide an international perspective, describing research results from IPO data in countries spanning the globe *Research is based on real results from IPO data collected over the past 5-7 years