The Tradeoff Between Private Equity Sponsorship, Board Centrality, and Experience as Credible Signals for IPO Performance

Abstract

Private equity funds implement various management and governance practices in firms they endorse, signaling higher quality of sponsored IPOs (Initial Public Offer). However, the participation of such PE funds comes at a cost for newcomer firms, as they may lose both autonomy and future post-IPO earnings. If they do not choose to signal quality through PE funds, the IPO literature points to the validity of other mechanisms, such as the experience and centrality of the board of directors. We theorize and test the effect of the tradeoff between private equity sponsorship and board centrality and experience on IPO performance. We analyzed the effects of signaling on long-term performance through the one-year cumulative abnormal return in Brazilian IPOs issued between 2004 and 2013. Our results indicate that private equity sponsorship is the most effective signal, completely overtaking the relevance of board centrality and experience to explain IPO performance. However, these latter board characteristics significantly affected the performance of non-private equity-backed IPOs. Between PE-backed companies, there is a reverse effect of the board centrality on the IPO's performance and a substitution effect of the board's previous experience with IPO processes.

The Influence of Financial Indicators and Underwriter Reputation on Depreciated Stock Prices

“…To prove that Underwriter Reputation affects underpricing during Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), this study aims to test the relationship between underwriter reputation and underpricing during IPOs. Underwriter reputation reflects the quality and expertise of the underwriter in facilitating the IPO process (Khatami et al, 2023;and Kirschbaum et al, 2023). This research will test the hypothesis of whether companies that use the services of underwriters with higher reputations tend to experience lower or higher underpricing during Initial Public Offerings (IPOs).…”