IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ecl/stabus/3655.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Going Public in China: Reverse Mergers versus IPOs

Author

Listed:
  • Lee, Charles M. C.

    (Stanford University)

  • Qu, Yuanyu

    (Tsinghua University)

  • Shen, Tao

    (Tsinghua University)

Abstract

We study firms' choice to go public through reverse mergers (RMs) versus initial public offerings (IPOs) in a regime with strict entry regulations. Using a manually-assembled data set from China, we show that Chinese RM firms are larger and more profitable than IPO firms prior to public listing. Chinese RM firms also have superior post-listing performance, in terms of both operations and stock returns, compared to IPOs matched on industry and size. Unlike IPOs, Chinese RM firms do not underperform the market in the long run. These results are in sharp contrast to the evidence on RMs from developed countries. We trace these differences to China's stringent IPO policies, which appear to block even high-quality firms from accessing public markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Lee, Charles M. C. & Qu, Yuanyu & Shen, Tao, 2018. "Going Public in China: Reverse Mergers versus IPOs," Research Papers 3655, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecl:stabus:3655
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/gsb-cmis/gsb-cmis-download-auth/459956
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liu, Jianan & Stambaugh, Robert F. & Yuan, Yu, 2019. "Size and value in China," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(1), pages 48-69.
    2. Simeon Djankov & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2002. "The Regulation of Entry," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 117(1), pages 1-37.
    3. Firth, Michael & Lin, Chen & Liu, Ping & Wong, Sonia M.L., 2009. "Inside the black box: Bank credit allocation in China's private sector," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1144-1155, June.
    4. Hsieh, Jim & Lyandres, Evgeny & Zhdanov, Alexei, 2011. "A Theory of Merger-Driven IPOs," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(5), pages 1367-1405, October.
    5. Piotroski, Joseph D. & Zhang, Tianyu, 2014. "Politicians and the IPO decision: The impact of impending political promotions on IPO activity in China," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(1), pages 111-136.
    6. Fan, Joseph P.H. & Wong, T.J. & Zhang, Tianyu, 2007. "Politically connected CEOs, corporate governance, and Post-IPO performance of China's newly partially privatized firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 330-357, May.
    7. Allen, Franklin & Qian, Jun & Qian, Meijun, 2005. "Law, finance, and economic growth in China," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 57-116, July.
    8. Cécile Carpentier & Douglas Cumming & Jean‐Marc Suret, 2012. "The Value of Capital Market Regulation: IPOs Versus Reverse Mergers," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(1), pages 56-91, March.
    9. Kolb, Johannes & Tykvová, Tereza, 2016. "Going public via special purpose acquisition companies: Frogs do not turn into princes," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 80-96.
    10. Klapper, Leora & Laeven, Luc & Rajan, Raghuram, 2006. "Entry regulation as a barrier to entrepreneurship," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(3), pages 591-629, December.
    11. Tian, Lihui, 2011. "Regulatory underpricing: Determinants of Chinese extreme IPO returns," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 78-90, January.
    12. Chaney, Paul K. & Faccio, Mara & Parsley, David, 2011. "The quality of accounting information in politically connected firms," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 58-76.
    13. Liu, Qigui & Tang, Jinghua & Tian, Gary Gang, 2013. "Does political capital create value in the IPO market? Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 395-413.
    14. Daniel, Kent, et al, 1997. "Measuring Mutual Fund Performance with Characteristic-Based Benchmarks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1035-1058, July.
    15. Cumming, Douglas & Haß, Lars Helge & Schweizer, Denis, 2014. "The fast track IPO – Success factors for taking firms public with SPACs," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 198-213.
    16. Brau, James C. & Couch, Robert B. & Sutton, Ninon K., 2012. "The Desire to Acquire and IPO Long-Run Underperformance," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(3), pages 493-510, June.
    17. Floros, Ioannis V. & Sapp, Travis R.A., 2011. "Shell games: On the value of shell companies," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 850-867, September.
    18. Joel F. Houston & Liangliang Jiang & Chen Lin & Yue Ma, 2014. "Political Connections and the Cost of Bank Loans," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 193-243, March.
    19. MARA FACCIO & RONALD W. MASULIS & JOHN J. McCONNELL, 2006. "Political Connections and Corporate Bailouts," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(6), pages 2597-2635, December.
    20. Chen, Yibiao & Wang, Steven Shuye & Li, Wei & Sun, Qian & Tong, Wilson H.S., 2015. "Institutional environment, firm ownership, and IPO first-day returns: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 150-168.
    21. James C. Brau & Stanley E. Fawcett, 2006. "Initial Public Offerings: An Analysis of Theory and Practice," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(1), pages 399-436, February.
    22. Gleason, Kimberly C. & Rosenthal, Leonard & Wiggins III, Roy A., 2005. "Backing into being public: an exploratory analysis of reverse takeovers," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 54-79, December.
    23. Rau, P. Raghavendra & Stouraitis, Aris, 2011. "Patterns in the Timing of Corporate Event Waves," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(1), pages 209-246, February.
    24. Shi, Song & Sun, Qian & Zhang, Xin, 2018. "Do IPOs Affect Market Price? Evidence from China," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(3), pages 1391-1416, June.
    25. Celikyurt, Ugur & Sevilir, Merih & Shivdasani, Anil, 2010. "Going public to acquire? The acquisition motive in IPOs," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(3), pages 345-363, June.
    26. Barber, Brad M. & Lyon, John D., 1997. "Detecting long-run abnormal stock returns: The empirical power and specification of test statistics," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 341-372, March.
    27. Frederick Adjei & Ken Cyree & Mark Walker, 2008. "The determinants and survival of reverse mergers vs IPOs," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 32(2), pages 176-194, April.
    28. Armen Hovakimian & Irena Hutton, 2010. "Merger‐Motivated IPOs," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 39(4), pages 1547-1573, December.
    29. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    30. Chen, Charles J.P. & Li, Zengquan & Su, Xijia & Sun, Zheng, 2011. "Rent-seeking incentives, corporate political connections, and the control structure of private firms: Chinese evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 229-243, April.
    31. Francis, Bill B. & Hasan, Iftekhar & Sun, Xian, 2009. "Political connections and the process of going public: Evidence from China," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 696-719, June.
    32. Lee, Charles M. C. & Qu, Yuanyu & Shen, Tao, 2017. "Reverse Mergers, Shell Value, and Regulation Risk in Chinese Equity Markets," Research Papers repec:ecl:stabus:3604, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    33. Li, Guoping & Zhou, Hong, 2015. "Political connections and access to IPO markets in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 76-93.
    34. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2009_007 is not listed on IDEAS
    35. Philip Brown & Andrew Ferguson & Peter Lam, 2013. "Choice between alternative routes to go public: backdoor listing versus IPO," Chapters, in: Mario Levis & Silvio Vismara (ed.), Handbook of Research on IPOs, chapter 22, pages 503-530, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    36. Chen, Donghua & Guan, Yuyan & Zhang, Tianyu & Zhao, Gang, 2017. "Political connection of financial intermediaries: Evidence from China's IPO market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 15-31.
    37. Raymond Fisman, 2001. "Estimating the Value of Political Connections," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 1095-1102, September.
    38. Li, Yuanpeng & Sun, Qian & Tian, Shu, 2018. "The impact of IPO approval on the price of existing stocks: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 109-127.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Li, Zhiyong & Rao, Xiao, 2022. "Evaluating asset pricing models: A revised factor model for China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    2. Wan, Die & Yang, Teng & Yang, Xiaoguang, 2021. "IPO relative difficulty, M&A option and size effect," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    3. Liu, Yu & Yang, Lingxuan & Xiong, Lu, 2023. "Performance commitments and the properties of analyst earnings forecasts: Evidence from Chinese reverse merger firms," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    4. Ayman Nagi & Meike Schroeder & Wolfgang Kersten, 2021. "Risk Management in Seaports: A Community Analysis at the Port of Hamburg," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-20, July.
    5. Chang, Danting, 2021. "Fundamental anomalies and the size puzzle in China: A data mining approach," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    6. Charles M C Lee & Yuanyu Qu & Tao Shen, 2023. "Gate Fees: The Pervasive Effect of IPO Restrictions on Chinese Equity Markets," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 27(3), pages 809-849.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Charles M C Lee & Yuanyu Qu & Tao Shen, 2023. "Gate Fees: The Pervasive Effect of IPO Restrictions on Chinese Equity Markets," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 27(3), pages 809-849.
    2. Li, Yi & Zhang, Wei, 2021. "Another game in town: Spillover effects of IPOs in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    3. Azevedo, Alcino & Guney, Yilmaz & Leng, Jingsi, 2018. "Initial public offerings in China: Underpricing, statistics and developing literature," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 387-398.
    4. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Ning, Shaolin & Hsieh, Meng-Fen & Lee, Chi-Chuan, 2020. "The going-public decision and rent-seeking activities: Evidence from Chinese private companies," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 44(1).
    5. Tang, Xuesong & Lin, Yan & Peng, Qing & Du, Jun & Chan, Kam C., 2016. "Politically connected directors and firm value: Evidence from forced resignations in China," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 148-167.
    6. Liu, Li & Liu, Qigui & Tian, Gary & Wang, Peipei, 2018. "Government connections and the persistence of profitability: Evidence from Chinese listed firms," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 110-129.
    7. Feng, Xunan & Johansson, Anders C. & Zhang, Tianyu, 2015. "Mixing business with politics: Political participation by entrepreneurs in China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 220-235.
    8. Wei, Chunyan & Hu, Shiyang & Chen, Feng, 2020. "Do political connection disruptions increase labor costs in a government-dominated market? Evidence from publicly listed companies in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    9. Liu, Qigui & Luo, Tianpei & Tian, Gary, 2016. "Political connections with corrupt government bureaucrats and corporate M&A decisions: A natural experiment from the anti-corruption cases in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 52-80.
    10. Cull, Robert & Li, Wei & Sun, Bo & Xu, Lixin Colin, 2015. "Government connections and financial constraints: Evidence from a large representative sample of Chinese firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 271-294.
    11. Mingsheng Li & Desheng Liu & Jing Zhang & Luxiu Zhang, 2021. "Volatile market condition, institutional constraints, and IPO anomaly: evidence from the Chinese market," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(1), pages 1239-1275, March.
    12. T.J. Wong & Mingyi Hung & Fang Zhang, 2015. "The Value of Political Ties versus Market Credibility: Evidence from Corporate Scandals in China," HKUST IEMS Working Paper Series 2015-18, HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies, revised Mar 2015.
    13. Rumokoy, Lawren J. & Neupane, Suman & Chung, Richard Y. & Vithanage, Kulunu, 2019. "Underwriter network structure and political connections in the Chinese IPO market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 199-214.
    14. Li, Xiaorong & Wang, Steven Shuye & Wang, Xue, 2019. "Trust and IPO underpricing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 224-248.
    15. Lin William Cong & Sabrina T. Howell, 2021. "Policy Uncertainty and Innovation: Evidence from Initial Public Offering Interventions in China," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(11), pages 7238-7261, November.
    16. Nnadi, Modestus I. & Sorwar, Ghulam & Eskandari, Rasol & Chizema, Amon, 2021. "Political connections and seasoned equity offerings," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    17. Mohamed Khalil & Sandy Harianto & Yilmaz Guney, 2022. "Do political connections reduce earnings management?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 273-310, July.
    18. Wang, Rouzhi & Wu, Chaopeng, 2020. "Politician as venture capitalist: Politically-connected VCs and IPO activity in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    19. Schweizer, Denis & Walker, Thomas & Zhang, Aoran, 2023. "False hopes and blind beliefs: How political connections affect China's corporate bond market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    20. Hoque, Hafiz & Mu, Shaolong, 2019. "Partial private sector oversight in China's A-share IPO market: An empirical study of the sponsorship system," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 15-37.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ecl:stabus:3655. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/gsstaus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.