This PhD thesis consists of three empirical papers. Each paper can be read independently. However, all three papers investigate different factors affecting the performance of firms involved in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and initial public offerings (IPOs). A private firm seeking to become listed and who also wish to grow through acquisition can do so with an IPO followed by acquisitions or a reverse takeover (RT). In a RT, a private firm is acquired by a public firm, but the private firm controls the combined public entity after completion of the deal. Chapter 2, 'Post-acquisition performance when firms list and acquire simultaneously versus sequentially: Reverse takeover versus IPO-M&As', examines the differential performance of firms conducting an IPO prior to undertaking follow-on acquisitions (IPO-M&As) versus firms that combine the process of obtaining the listing and acquiring another firm by conducting a RT. I investigate how acquirers' choices affect their post-acquisition performances. In this paper, I also investigate the impact of board structure changes on firm performance in IPO-M&A and RT deals. This event study covers RTs and acquisition-motived IPOs listed on the London Stock Exchange during 1995-2012. Challenging the theoretical expectation that IPOs increase the likelihood of optimal exercise of acquisition options by reducing valuation uncertainty, my results show that an IPO does not alleviate the stock market underperformance of acquirers within 3 years post-acquisition. Private firms seem to self-select into different listing-and-acquisition routes depending on firm-specific characteristics and the board members keep the same level of control preference. However, the choice of listing-and-acquisition does not appear to significantly affect performance. I find no significant difference in the post-acquisition performance of firms undertaking IPO-M&As or RTs. Chapter 3, 'Post-acquisition performance of target firms: The impact of management turnover', investigates the efficiency of the takeover market and the impact of management turnover on target firm performance. Investigating separately the operating performance of targets and acquirers in U.K. domestic acquisitions during 2006-2014, I find that the post-acquisition peer-adjusted profits significantly improve in the unprofitable targets but do not change significantly in profitable targets. Both profitable and unprofitable targets experienced high management turnovers, but the improvement in profits does not appear to be driven by the management turnover. The reason of management turnovers is more complex than the acquisitions' market discipline function or resource-based management hypothesis. However, a complete turnover of top management in target firms seems to hurt the post-acquisition performance of acquirers, suggesting target management team may possess valuable information to facilitate the integration process. This study sheds light on the post-acquisition restructuring of target firms and their management teams, especially in private targets. Chapter 4, 'Identifying leaders among IPO firms: a content analysis of analyst coverage reports', investigates how analysts identify firms as a leader and whether leader firms go on to generate superior operating performance to non-leaders. Using a content analysis approach, I extract sentences including the keyword 'lead' from initial coverage reports and pick out sentences where the IPO firm is identified as either an 'industry leader' or 'partial leader'. I examine the textual content of initial coverage reports on U.S. IPOs during 1999-2012 and find that lead-underwriter analysts appear not to be more optimistic than non-lead-underwriters in their leadership identification of IPO firms, however, nor are they more accurate than non-lead-underwriters in identifying leader firms. I find that neither firms identified by analysts as industry leaders nor firms identified as having partial leadership advantages tend to generate superior peer-adjusted net sales or profit margins compared to non-leaders. The Global Settlement in 2003 significantly reduced the likelihood, frequency and intensity of partial leadership identification. Although there is no explicit regulation requirement on the text content in analyst reports, analysts have become more conservative in identifying a firm as a leader after the Global Settlement. This study helps investors to understand the incremental information of leadership identification in analyst reports, beyond the quantitative outputs such as stock recommendations.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:30:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Murilo Sampaio.pdf: 2706716 bytes, checksum: cc272352ef2c7be4f84e3f7046aff823 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-15 / On one side, the innovative company and, on the other, the open market make up the context that serves as the basis of this research. Undertaken in the Brazilian reality over the past ten years, this research looked to study and conclude in what way innovation contributes to the performance of the IPO. In the period between 2000 and 2010, 245 companies opened their capital, but only 98 went onto the stock market. In the initial phase of research, structured interviews with members of capital markets and with companies that opened their capital, comprised the qualitative part of the research and validated the questionnaire sent to the companies. In the second phase, the quantitative research was undertaken through two ways. The questionnaire was sent to each company and then, at the same time, each launch prospectus of the shares (the most important secondary source of the IPO) was used to obtain the answers of the questionnaire. The direct response rate was very low, however, through the direct interviews and quantitative research of the launch prospectuses, a relationship between innovation and IPO performance could not be generically proven. In specific cases, this relationship could be observed and deserves to be studied further and in a more profound manner. / Este trabalho trata, por um lado, da empresa inovadora e, pelo outro, do mercado de capitais que serve de contexto no momento em que a empresa começa a negociar suas ações na Bolsa de Valores. Empreendida na realidade brasileira nos últimos dez anos, a pesquisa buscou estudar e concluir de que forma a inovação contribui para o desempenho de um IPO. De 2000 a 2010, 245 empresas abriram seu capital, mas apenas 98 foram para a Bolsa de Valores. Na fase inicial da pesquisa, entrevistas estruturadas com agentes do mercado de capital e com empresas que abriram capital compuseram sua parte qualitativa e validaram o questionário enviado às empresas. Na fase quantitativa, a pesquisa foi empreendida por meio de dois caminhos paralelos. No primeiro, uma pesquisa primária, foi enviado para cada empresa o questionário e buscou-se obter as respostas. No segundo, utilizando-se o prospecto do lançamento das ações (a fonte secundária mais importante do IPO), o mesmo questionário foi respondido por meio de contagem de palavras no texto do prospecto. A taxa de resposta direta foi muito baixa, mas por meio das entrevistas e da pesquisa quantitativa empreendida nos prospectos de lançamento, a relação entre inovação e desempenho do IPO não pode ser genericamente comprovada. Em casos específicos, tal relação pode ser observada e mereceria estudos mais aprofundados.

This paper explores the differences between the success of a start-up depending on support from venture capital or not. This kind of research has not been done in a Swedish context in which time to IPO was used as a measure of success for the start-up. The secondary data was collected from two stock markets representing start-ups/entrepreneurial firms, First north and Aktietorget. The sample includes 211 different start-ups with their founding years no earlier than 1999 and their IPO ranging between 2011 and 2016. A regression analysis, one-way ANOVA and t-test have been conducted for the collected data. Findings were not statistically significant and could not show any mean differences. The contributions of this study are theoretical and relate to the individual objectives of this study; 1) critically, identifying and evaluating different success factors for start-ups; 2) defining the terms venture capital and start-up; and 3) evaluating the literature on venture capital and the success of start-ups.

The purpose of this thesis is to check the readiness of a medium size family company, H Biotechnology Company, for initial public offering (IPO). In recent, like most of small and medium size companies, H Company faces a bottleneck to grow due to difficulties of recruiting suitable elites as well as raising money from financing channels. Moreover, it is also not an easy task for an unknown medium size company to initiate transactions with big or foreign companies that did not have any cooperation experience before; however, it is the road a medium size company must take in order to grow well. Therefore, IPO is an option that H Company must take into consideration. Starting from preparation to IPO, the company will scan itself from bottom up thoroughly and make positive changes accordingly throughout the process. Once IPO successfully, there will be more chances and resources for the company to recruit talents and grow. Through preliminary scan in this thesis, hope to point out some parts that H Company has to improve in order to IPO in the near future.

Legal and Economic Aspects of Initial Public Offering (Neumahr, D.) Abstract This diploma thesis deals with initial public offering (IPO) of shares from both legal and economic perspective. The thesis is divided into three basic parts. The goal of the first part is to explain the process of IPO, its development and each institution related to the topic. Followed by part which is dedicated to legal framework in the European Union and each phase of the process is described from the viewpoint of Czech law. Second part aims to clarify basic economic advantages as well as disadvantages of initial public offering concerning the company and propose possible alternatives. Final part seeks to provide a case study of the process on the Czech and the American capital market. The purpose of my thesis was to explain what an initial public offering is, what are its upsides and downsides and describe in detail the whole process which companies have to undergo before they can publicly offer their shares and before they are admitted to the capital market. Throughout the thesis I examine the development of European law regarding IPO and I marginally try to compare it to American law. In the final case studies, concrete steps during the entire process are demonstrated on the examples of practice.

The topic of the submitted thesis is the Economic and legal aspects of IPO (Initial Public Offering) and its purpose is to describe the process of an Initial Public Offering and subsequently apply the findings in the case study of one particular IPO - Pivovary Lobkowicz Group. The thesis is composed of six chapters, each of them dealing with different aspects of Initial Public Offering. Chapter One is introductory and defines basic terminology used in the thesis. The chapter is subdivided into five parts. Part One describes the capital market. Part Two deals with IPO history, its subpart One with global history and subpart Two with Czech history of IPO. Part three focuses on securities, its subpart One on securitues in general and subpart Two on shares specifically. Part four explains the share issue. Part five looks at the term Initial Public Offering itself. Chapter Two illustrates the reasons for an IPO. The chapter consists of six parts. Part One focuses on acquiring capital. Part Two investigates the prestige and credibility. Part Three addresses the issue of marketing use and advertising. Part four examines benefits for existing shareholders. Part five describes obtaining information about company value. Part six deals with increasing employees involvement. Chapter Three is subdivided into...

Tidigare forskning visar på att ett större antal börsintroduktioner sker under högkonjunkturer än vid lågkonjunkturer. Denna uppsats studerar fenomenet på de två största marknadsplatserna för börshandel i Sverige: First North och Stockholmsbörsen. Under högkonjunkturen 2014-2016 har listorna haft ett rekordhögt antal introduktioner trots att konjunkturläget tidigare varit högre. Uppsatsen inriktar sig dels på detta särskilda marknadsläge men jämför även bolag som noterats under låg- respektive högkonjunkturer mellan åren 2007-2016. Genom användandet av prospekt, delårs- samt årsrapporter har de nyintroducerade bolagens finansiella nyckeltal kunnat tas fram för att sedan undersöka om dessa tal kan kopplas till olika konjunkturlägen. Studien riktar sig främst till investerare, som genom uppsatsen får ta del av värderingar av nyintroduktioner. Detta är något som idag är av stort intresse eftersom aktiemarknaden blivit alltmer populär. Genom att värdera introduktionsbolagen och deras kvalité ges även en indirekt bedömning av introduktionsmarknadens riskläge. Detta kan vara användbart för investerare och kan förenkla bedömandet av riskläget samt investeringsmöjligheterna förknippade med marknaden för nyintroducerade bolag. Resultatet i denna studie visar på att nyckeltalen EV/EBITDA och RE har den största kopplingen till rådande konjunkturläge. De övriga nyckeltalen P/S, RT, rörelsemarginal och soliditet bedöms inte ha en lika tydlig koppling till rådande konjunkturläge. Vad gäller 2016 års nyckeltal går det enbart att se särskilda skillnader för P/S-talet, som visar ett mycket högre värde jämfört med resterande år. Således anses inte några särskilda skillnader hos de nyintroducerade bolagens finansiella nyckeltal enskilt utgöra den avgörande förklaringen till de senaste årens höga antal börsnoteringar. Resultatet indikerar att även andra faktorer som dagens låga räntor samt introduktionsbolagens begränsade belåningsmöjligheter påverkar antalet introduktioner. / Previous studies shows that a larger number of IPO:s take place during periods of economic expansion compared to periods of economic recession. This paper focuses on studying this phenomena on the two largest marketplaces for stock trading in Sweden: First North and Nasdaq Stockholm. During the economic expansion 2014-2016 the two marketplaces had a record number of IPO:s even though the Swedish economy historically has been better. This paper investigates this market abnormality but also compares IPO:s throughout both economic recessions as well as expansions throughout the years 2007-2016. With the help of prospectuses, interim and annual reports the IPO companies financial key figures have been calculated and then investigated for potential connections to the state of the economy. The study is mostly directed at investors, who through the results of this paper can gain information about the valuation of IPO:s. This is something that currently is of large interest because of the stock markets increasingly popularity. By evaluating the IPO companies and their quality, an indirect valuation of the risk associated with the introduction market is also presented. This can also be useful for investors and can ease the valuation of the current risk as well as the current investment possibilities that are associated with the market for IPO companies. The result in this study shows that the key figures EV/EBITDA and RE have the greatest connection to the state of the economy. The other key figures P/S, RT, operating margin and equity ratio did not have a clear connection to the state of the economy. The only key figure with major differences exclusively associated with the IPO companies of 2016 was shown to be P/S, which had a substantially higher value compared to the rest of the years. It is therefore concluded that the last years high quantity of IPO:s cannot exclusively be explained by significant differences in the financial key figures of IPO companies. The result indicates that other factors such as the low market interest rates and the IPO companies limited opportunities of borrowing affects the number of IPO:s.

本研究在探討興櫃公司成功轉上市(櫃)的關鍵因素為何，分別由公司基本資料及財務報表中選取適當變數，並分別加入產業及登錄興櫃年份之虛擬變數，共計四個模型，分別探討於1年內、2年內、3年內、4年內及5年內有哪些成功上市(櫃)之關鍵因素，使用Logistic迴歸分析作為主要研究模型。 研究對象是以西元2002年興櫃市場開始運作後到2015年底登錄於興櫃市場的公司為樣本，共計1146家。 在財報及公司基本資料中，實證結果發現1年內成功轉上市(櫃)的關鍵因素有公司設立經歷時間及公司資產報酬率。公司設立經歷時間越短，或公司資產報酬率越高，較有利於成功轉上市(櫃)。而2年內、3年內、4年內及5年內成功轉上市(櫃)的關鍵因素除了前述兩者以外，負債比率及資產規模也被證實是重要指標；越小的負債比率或越大的資產規模較有利於成功轉上市(櫃)。 在產業虛擬變數方面，實證結果發現所屬產業對於是否成功上市(櫃)沒有顯著影響。而在登錄興櫃年份方面，實證結果發現對比於2002年，在1年內成功轉上市(櫃)部分，2003年-2015年皆有顯著負相關；而在更長的年限內成功轉上市(櫃)的部分2006、2008及2009年則顯示不顯著負相關。

The thesis "IPO analysis in Czech Republic" focuses on initial public offering (IPO) issue applied on the Czech capital market. The beginning of the thesis focuses on IPO characteristics and company's alternative financing. The work describes IPO process in detail in case of an issue on the Prague Stock Exchange and the long-term performance characteristics of the new issues further. The ending focuses on the current Czech capital market, the Prague Stock Exchange and the investors.

The thesis IPO since the technology bubble to Facebook deals with IPO development during the last fifteen years. The cyclical development of numbers and volume of raised capital is observable. From the theoretical point of view the market timing theory reflects this situation very well. Analysis of stock market bubble blowing and bursting performed mainly during the technological revolution at the end of the 20th century and partly during REITs bubble lead to conclusion that there mentioned fundamental indicators are not able to explain the bubble as a whole. According to indicative valuation and comparative methods IPO offer price of the company Facebook was about 23--27 % overvalued. In connection with subsequent problematic development of the company it is not likely to happen that the Facebook's IPO starts a new IPO wave in the internet media sector.