This paper tests commercial bank underwriting for the existence of a conflict of interest versus a certification role. Our tests compare samples of equity IPOs underwritten by both commercial and investment banks. We examine the degree of asymmetric information present in the market for these...

We examine financing activities of newly public firms for evidence on capital staging in the public equity market. Staging (sequential financing) can increase issuance costs but can limit costs associated with overinvestment. We find evidence consistent with the hypothesis that staging is...