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Journal of Financial Economics Vol. 15 No. 1-2 1986

Issuing costs to existing shareholders in competitive and negotiated underwritten public utility equity offerings

Sanjai Bhagat1,2; Peter A. Frost1,2,3

1 University of Washington · 2 University of Utah · 3 University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an empirical investigation of whether there is any difference in the cost incurred by public utilities if they issue new equity through a negotiated or competitive underwriting. We conclude that the expected cost of a competitive offer is less than the expected cost of a negotiated offer, but that the variance of the cost is substantially greater with a competitive offer. These results are interesting because most public utilities use negotiated underwriting unless forced by regulation to use competitive offers. This paper is also an addition to the growing agency theory literature.

DOI
10.1016/0304-405x(86)90056-5
Volume
15
Issue
1-2
Pages
233-259
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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