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Do Retail Incentives Work in Privatizations?

Matti Keloharju1; Samuli Knüpfer2; Sami Torstila2

1 Helsinki School of Economics and CEPR · 2 Helsinki School of Economics

Review of Financial Studies 2008

Twenty countries around the world have used $27 billion in incentives such as bonus shares and discounts to attract retail investors to participate in privatizations and to discourage them from flipping their shares. Our results show that incentives have performed well, increasing retail investor participation much more cost effectively than underpricing. Flipping is not only much reduced in the short term but remains cumulatively at least 15% lower after 1000 trading days. The expiration of bonus share plans is associated with a 6-day abnormal return of –1.0% and a long-term increase in trading volume.

DOI
10.1093/rfs/hhl033
Volume
21 (5)
Pages
2061-2095
Language
en
Export
BibTeX
Sources
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