The Impact of the 2007 Global Financial Crisis on IPO Performance in Asian-Pacific Emerging Markets

This paper assesses the comparative impact of the 2007 global financial crisis on the short and long-term performance of initial public offerings (IPOs) in the Asian-Pacific emerging markets of Thailand, China, South Korea, and Malaysia. Our results indicate that the short-term performance or underpricing of Thai IPOs increased from 19% to 44% between the pre-crisis and post-crisis periods. IPOs in each of the three other emerging markets experienced a reduction in underpricing after the financial crisis. While our results are consistent with previous IPO research, the degree of underpricing in each emerging market exceeded the levels found in studies of IPOs in developed countries. In terms of the long-term performance of IPOs, our results suggest that IPOs in Thailand, China, and South Korea performed better in the post-crisis period, while Malaysian IPOs performed worse. Our overall findings suggest that the 2007 financial crisis affected IPO performance and economic growth in each of the markets studied.