The Merger-Adjusted US Listing Gap

Abstract

We adjust the US stock-exchange listing count for all significant transactions that move corporate assets into or out of the stock market - in particular mergers and acquisitions. In contrast to the actual listing count, the US merger-adjusted count hardly peaks over 1980--2017 and does not exhibit a gap vis-a-vis merger-adjusted listings in other countries. Moreover, we show that while actual listing peaks followed by sharp declines are common internationally, the post-peak decline reflects a reallocation of assets between public firms in the US, while declines elsewhere largely tunnel assets out of public markets.

Keywords: Stock exchange listing, IPOs, new lists, delists, listing gap, merger-adjusted gap, mergers, acquisitions

JEL Classification: G15, G34