Research Article
Internet Small-Scale Public Offerings and Pricing of Initial Public Offerings
Published: January 2003 · Vol. 32, No. 3 · pp. 835-857
Full Text
Abstract
Korean firms have actively conducted small-scale public offerings through the Internet since April 1998. The purpose of this study is to theoretically and empirically analyze and explain the impact of such Internet small-scale public offerings on the pricing function in the initial public offering (IPO) market. Theoretically, if Internet small-scale public offerings are regarded as a process through which investors produce information about the intrinsic value of firms, the magnitude of ex ante uncertainty about the value of firms that have experienced Internet small-scale public offerings would be smaller than that of other firms. Accordingly, the degree of underpricing for firms that conducted small-scale public offerings is expected to be less than that for other firms. Based on this hypothesis, the empirical analysis revealed that the degree of underpricing for firms that conducted Internet small-scale public offerings was indeed less than that of the matched sample. Furthermore, even after controlling for variables representing ex ante uncertainty of firm value that explain underpricing, whether a firm had conducted an Internet small-scale public offering had a significant effect on the degree of underpricing. In the case of the KOSDAQ market, coefficient signs consistent with those predicted by the hypothesis were found, but they were not statistically significant. In the case of the Third Market, statistically significant negative coefficients were found as expected.
