The Impact of Venture Capital Backing on the Corporate Governance of Australian Initial Public Offerings

This study explores the role of venture capitalists on investee boards at the time of listing for 552 initial public offerings. Australian board structures/mechanisms are more similar to those in the U.S/U.K but market activity characteristics are more similar to Japanese/German systems. Further, the Australian private equity market is relatively young compared to U.S and European markets. IPOs backed by venture capital have more independent boards, similar to U.S IPOs. Venture capitalists improve governance by using their networks to recruit specialist independent directors with industry experience