When a company offers shares in an initial public offering (IPO), existing owners often enter into lock-in agreements prohibiting them from selling shares for a specified period after the IPO. There is some recent US evidence of predictable share-price movements at the time of expiry of these...

UK firms going public have a choice between public offers and placings. This choice has important implications in terms of who bears the risk of the issue failing and of its costs. We find that firms with higher "ex ante" uncertainty choose a placing contract. Highly reputable sponsors and...

German firms pay out a lower proportion of their cash flows, but a higher proportion of their published profits than UK and US firms. We estimate partial adjustment models and report two major findings. First, German firms base their dividend decisions on cash flows rather than published...

Defines corporate governance, describes the special characteristics of Belgian companies and presents a study of the disciplining of bad management in 165 companies listed on the Brussels stock exchange 1989‐1996. Finds that poor share price performance is generally linked to a higher turnover...

Purpose – This paper seeks to answer the question whether control and changes in control after a firm's initial public offering (IPO) have a significant influence on firm value in two very different systems of corporate governance, i.e. Germany and the UK. Design/methodology/approach – The...

Purpose – The aim of the paper is to study the long‐run under‐performance of UK initial public offerings (IPOs) by relating it to the pre‐IPO financial performance of the firm as well as the managerial decisions taken before the IPO. Design/methodology/approach – The three‐year share...