Pre-Ipo Markets

Abstract

This paper develops a model of IPOs in which book building and a grey market (i.e. a when-issued market) take place simultaneously. While book building contains information about the fundamental value of the issue and is kept confidential, the grey market reflects the opinion of retail investors and is publicly observed. We show that when the grey market price is high relative to the fundamental value the underwriter will set the offer price close to the grey market price, but when the grey market price is low, he will set the offer price based on the fundamentals. This creates an asymmetry in the issue price and the aftermarket price relative to the grey market. We test the empirical implications of the model using data from grey market prices for European IPOs.