Initial public offering (IPO) underpricing in Malaysian settings

Abstract

Empirical debate on Initial public offering (IPO) underpricing has never laid to rest. Motivated by the IPO underpricing phenomenon across various market, this paper examines the anomalous market behaviors of IPO in an emerging market setting such as Malaysia. The primary purpose of this paper is to analyze the existence and magnitude of the underpricing phenomenon and post listing performance of IPOs listed in Bursa Malaysia from 2008 to 2016. Moreover, this study aims to provide an insight primarily into the relationship between IPO initial and long-term stock performance and the four main determinants influencing underpricing, namely IPO size, market volatility, underwriter status and the reciprocal of IPO price. By analyzing a sample of 313 IPOs, the average market adjusted initial return is 9.4%. The regression-based analysis indicates positive relationship between underpricing and the explanatory variables, namely IPO size, market volatility, underwriter status and the reciprocal of IPO price. In addition, the findings of the present study lend support to the evidence of a fads hypothesis as the sample IPO was found to underperform the market over a 36-month period after listing and a univariate regression analysis further reveals that there is a negative relationship between initial market adjusted returns and returns over the 36-month period.