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This study empirically tests the substitution effect outlined in theoretical bivariate signaling models using a Canadian IPO setting. We first show that retained ownership and the provision of management earnings forecasts are credible (value-relevant) signals for our sample of IPOs, and that they jointly affect IPO valuation. We then use simultaneous equations to investigate what factors affect managers' choices of these two signals and whether the two signals act as complements or substitutes. Our analysis indicates that managers' choices of the earnings forecast and retained ownership signals are jointly determined after controlling for other factors that affect each decision independently, and that a substitution effect exists between managers' choices of the two signals. These findings are consistent with Hughes's (1986) bivariate signaling model.

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Existing studies show that markets use comparable firm multiples to price IPOs. This study explores IPO valuations in an emerging market where reliable comparable price multiples may not be readily available, or cannot be reliably identified. In particular, we examine the value relevance of price-earnings multiples disclosed by managers in IPO prospectuses in China. Using a sample of IPOs from 1992 to 2002, we find that price-earnings multiples disclosed by IPO firms provide significant power in explaining price formation in this emerging market. We also find that price-earnings multiples disclosed by IPO firms after 1999, when the China Securities and Regulatory Commission relaxed its internal guideline for approving IPO applications, are more informative. The results are robust to a variety of empirical model specifications. This study contributes to the existing IPO literature by showing that the disclosure of price-earnings multiples provides a mechanism for IPO firms to convey information about IPO firm quality when reliable comparable firm multiples may not exist.