This paper studies how firm-level idiosyncratic risk varies over time and affects both initial public offering (IPO) and matched non-IPO firms' long-run performance. It revisits the traditional approach to compute the long-run performance by conditioning aftermarket performance on idiosyncratic risk with a generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity GARCH-M extension of the standard three-factor Fama and French (3FF) model. Our findings show a positive long-run relationship between idiosyncratic risk and expected returns for almost all IPOs and matched non-IPO firms. We find that, in general, IPOs do not underperform their peers when we adjust long-run abnormal returns for firm-level idiosyncratic risk. We also note that the idiosyncratic risk exposure depends on the IPO profile; it is more important for firms going public in hot-issue markets, undervalued IPOs and high idiosyncratic-risk issues. Thus, this paper suggests that a part of abnormal returns in specific IPOs long-run performance is derived from firm idiosyncratic risk.

Chaire RBC en innovations financières. Centre interuniversitaire sur le risque, les politiques économiques et l'emploi (CIRPÉE). Département de finance, assurance et immobilier, Faculté des sciences de l'administration, Université Laval, Québec G1V 0A6, CanadaThis article characterizes the role of risk in the initial public offering (IPO) cycle. While most of the previous literature uses the volatility of IPO initial returns to measure risk, we focus on different risk measures, namely firmlevel systematic and idiosyncratic volatilities and the market-wide implied volatility index (VIX), to assess their role in the IPO cycle. Our results shed new light on (1) which risk measure is important in the determination of IPO cycles, (2) the temporal pattern of each risk component across issuing firms and (3) the relationship between market-wide uncertainty and IPO risk. Our findings reveal a lead-lag relationship between IPO waves, VIX and the IPO systematic risk measure. We also highlight the fact that marketlevel uncertainty predicts IPO activity and the level of idiosyncratic risk of the next-period-issuing firms. Issuing firms' systematic risk can only be predicted by the systematic risk of firms now proceeding to their offering. The main implication resulting from our study is that one can better anticipate 'hot-issue' markets, as well as the specific risk components of future new issues. This will help improve upon the regulatory environment, IPO investment decisions and IPO timing given market receptivity.

Chaire RBC en innovations financières. Centre interuniversitaire sur le risque, les politiques économiques et l'emploi (CIRPÉE). Département de finance, assurance et immobilier, Faculté des sciences de l'administration, Université Laval, Québec G1V 0A6, Canada This article characterizes the role of risk in the initial public offering (IPO) cycle. While most of the previous literature uses the volatility of IPO initial returns to measure risk, we focus on different risk measures, namely firmlevel systematic and idiosyncratic volatilities and the market-wide implied volatility index (VIX), to assess their role in the IPO cycle. Our results shed new light on (1) which risk measure is important in the determination of IPO cycles, (2) the temporal pattern of each risk component across issuing firms and (3) the relationship between market-wide uncertainty and IPO risk. Our findings reveal a lead-lag relationship between IPO waves, VIX and the IPO systematic risk measure. We also highlight the fact that marketlevel uncertainty predicts IPO activity and the level of idiosyncratic risk of the next-period-issuing firms. Issuing firms' systematic risk can only be predicted by the systematic risk of firms now proceeding to their offering. The main implication resulting from our study is that one can better anticipate 'hot-issue' markets, as well as the specific risk components of future new issues. This will help improve upon the regulatory environment, IPO investment decisions and IPO timing given market receptivity.

In this paper, we explore the impact of International Accounting Standards/International Financial Reporting Standards (IAS/IFRS) adoption on the French listed firms’ pricing in terms of performance, systematic risk aversion, idiosyncratic and systematic risks from 2001 to 2008. Unlike previous studies, we adopt a risk decomposition into systematic and idiosyncratic components to study the IAS/IFRS adoption effect. A modified market model (MMM) is used to allow time-varying variance on the one hand, and parameters changing over periods on the other hand. Our findings show that IFRS adoption reduces idiosyncratic risk, leads to a vanish in systematic risk, increases the systematic risk aversion, and improves the speed of information adjustment. We underscore the role of IFRS in enhancing the stocks’ informational efficiency. Our results help investors in their investment decisions as well as accounting professionals and market makers in the design of relevant accounting and financial policies.

We investigate whether mutual funds that invest in initial public offerings (IPOs) outperform the Renaissance IPO Index, IPOX® 100 U.S. Index, and other comparable equity funds that do not invest in IPOs. We also explore whether investors gain diversification benefits by investing in IPO‐focused mutual funds. Using a sample of active open‐ended US equity mutual funds, we find that IPO‐focused funds outperform the Renaissance IPO Index and comparable funds that do not invest in IPOs. Moreover, they provide investors with the benefit of diversification along with better returns. We also find the value added by active management based on IPO strategy.