Between 1999 and 2007, WR Hambrecht has completed 19 IPOs in the U.S. usingan auction mechanism. We analyze investor behavior and mechanism performance inthese auctioned IPOs using detailed bidding data. The existence of some bids posted athigh prices suggests that some investors (mostly retail)...

The paper offers a new explanation for the widely observed use of redeemable and convertible preferred stock in venture capital finance. Redeemable and convertible preferred stocks can be used to endogenously allocate cash flow and control rights as a function of the state of nature, the...

This paper presents a theory of inititial public offerings based on the idea that the optimal ownership structure of a company changes over the life cycle of the firm. Insiders take the company public when they have lost the comparative advantage over outsiders in gathering information to...

Our study provides evidence on the share price reactions to the announcement of equity issues inGermany, where capital market is characterized by institutional features distinct from the U.S. market.German seasoned equity issues yield a positive market reaction which contrasts to the significant...

We examine the coexistence of banks and financial markets, studyinga credit market where the qualities of investment projects are notobservable and the investment decisions of entrepreneurs are not contractible...

This paper studies the impact of cash constraints on equilibrium research intensities in a patent race between a current owner of the “state of the art” technology (the incumbent) and entrants. We develop a simple model, where players need to raise funds from imperfectly informed creditors to...

Using a hand-collected sample of contracts and investment proposals from German venturecapital financing relationships, we analyze specific incentive conflicts. We apply indirect anddirect measures of these problems and extend the “direct” approach by Kaplan and Strömberg(2004) to a four-...

Using a hand-collected sample of contracts and investment proposals from German venturecapital (VC) financing relationships, we find that experienced and or private law/independentVC firms rely to a lesser degree on debt financing and more on certain covenants in VC con-tracting even when we...

Why do private firms stay private? Empirical evidence on this issue is sparse, as most private firms in the US do not report their financial results. We investigate why private status matters by taking advantage of a unique dataset of large, leveraged private firms with SEC filings. Unlike a...

We solve the problem of optimal securitization for an issuer facing heterogeneous investorswith arbitrary time and risk preferences. We show that the optimal securitizationis characterized by multiple nonlinear tranches, and each investor gets a portfolio of thesetranches. In particular, when...