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Journal of Corporate Finance Vol. 47 2017

The small IPO and the investing preferences of mutual funds

Robert P. Bartlett1; Paul Rose2; Steven Davidoff Solomon1

1 University of California, Berkeley · 2 The Ohio State University

Abstract

We examine how liquidity and return concerns at large mutual funds explain their diminished participation in small IPOs since the late 1990s. Using 5825 IPOs and portfolio-level information for 37,052 funds, we exploit Russia's 1998 debt default as an exogenous shock to funds' liquidity concerns. After 1998, large funds invested in fewer small/illiquid IPOs and more large/liquid IPOs than smaller funds and received higher returns for small IPO investments. Given increased fund sizes since 1990, these results are consistent with funds' liquidity concerns and their demand for greater compensation when investing in transactions representing a trivial fraction of fund assets.

DOI
10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2017.08.008
Volume
47
Pages
151-173
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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