Corporate Relocation in Venture Finance

Abstract

This paper provides empirical analysis of cross-border equity investment flows by venture capitalists into privately-held firms. Our data are drawn from a sample of 468 private companies based in 12 Asia-Pacific countries. The data indicate poor legal and institutional environments impact investment decisions in privately held firms. We find that venture capitalists relocate their equity positions to the United States to take advantage of more liquid stock markets and an improvement in the legality. Equity investments in relocated firms in the United States yield significantly greater returns to Asia-Pacific venture capitalists than investing in companies already based in the United States at the time of investment. Further, more experienced venture capitalists have greater success with their cross-border equity strategies and these strategies yield higher returns relative to staying in their country of origin.