This paper examines how the release of industry rivals' earnings news during the IPO book-building period affects a firm's process of going public. The aggregate effect of rivals' earnings news is measured by a signal-to-noise ratio. Higher signal-to-noise ratios indicate better rivals' earnings...

Large universal banks played a major role for Germany's industrialisation because they provided loans to the industry and thereby helped firms to overcome liquidity constraints. Previous research has also argued that they were equally important on the German stock market. The present paper...