in acquiring data used in this study is gratefully acknowledged. The author would also like to thank Reuters Ges.m.b.H (Vienna) for providing data.

SummaryThis paper examines the German IPO pricing process which combines bookbuilding with a liquid pre-IPO when-issued market. We find no partial adjustment phenomenon, as has been documented for U.S. IPOs. We thus find no evidence that bookbuilding provides information for IPO pricing, beyond the information that is required to set preliminary price ranges. Once price ranges are set, when-issued trading commences and indicates how IPOs should be priced in the primary market. However, the evidence suggests that such trading does not fully supplant information gathering through bookbuilding.

"This study examines the operating performance of privatised firms in three Central European Transition Economies between 1990 and 1998. Overall, we find no evidence of a significant improvement in operating performance for the first six years after privatisation. Contrary to the increasing empirical evidence for non-transition economies, our privatised firms experience no improvement in profitability, capital investments, efficiency, and output, a significant drop in employment, as well as a significant increase in leverage. The most important determinants of the performance changes following privatisation were country effects, timing of the privatisation sales, industry classification, and state ownership after privatisation. Our findings are consistent with the empirical evidence that the transition process proved to be more difficult than expected and that, although necessary, privatisations do not necessarily produce equal efficiency gains in transition economies (Megginson, 2005; Havrylyshyn and McGettigan, 1999)." Copyright 2007 The Authors Journal compilation (c) 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

No abstract

We analyse stock price behaviour around the disclosure of corporate insider transactions after the introduction of the Market Abuse Directive (MAD). Ranking according to our Insider Trading Enforcement (ITE) index highlights significant differences in the MAD enforcement between French and German legal origin countries. We document contrarian behaviour of insiders in all of the sample countries. Insiders reveal significant information to the public through both their purchases and sales. The price impact of the insiders' transactions is particularly strong in countries with a lower ITE index (i.e. weaker public enforcement).