Merger-Driven Listing Dynamics

Abstract

To accurately gauge the flow of firms into and retained by stock exchanges, we add targets of public acquirers to the listing count. For the U.S., this merger-adjustment rivals IPOs in its impact on listing dynamics, and it eliminates the dramatic post-1996 listing decline and subsequent international listing gap. We also show that listing peaks are surprisingly common internationally, but with a different impact of our merger-adjustment. While the U.S. post-peak decline reflects mergers between public firms, declines elsewhere tend to move assets out of public markets -pointing to a relative U.S. listing advantage.

Keywords: M&A, merger, public listing, listing peak, listing gap

JEL Classification: G15, G34