TIMING OF DIVIDEND INITIATIONS OF POLISH IPOs. DOES THE ORIGINAL SHAREHOLDERS STRUCTURE MATTER?

This study provides empirical Polish-sample evidence for how pre-IPO ownership structure affects the subsequent decision on the first dividend pay-out for stock market investors over the period 2009–2016. Using a sample of 104 companies conducting initial public offerings we investigate the issue of relations between the share of original shareholders in the total number of votes at the general meeting of shareholders of pre-IPO companies and the moment of their dividend initiations. Considering the pre-listing ownership structure of companies, we are particularly interested in role of managers, the largest shareholder, State Treasury and private equity funds in the original ownership structure. We conduct the research employing survival analysis. The results of our study indicate that different types of original shareholders may affect the timing of initial dividend. The crucial conclusion from our analysis is that state ownership of the company before the first listing have a significant impact on the time of first dividend pay-out. We observed that along with the higher number of votes belonging to State Treasury before IPO, initial dividend of public company occurs faster. Our research seems to be valuable due to the lack of academic research on the impact of pre-IPO ownership structure on the time of initial dividend pay-out.