TALLINN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY School of Business and Governance Department of Economics and Finance Stella Mylläri IPO UNDERPRICING IN THE HELSINKI STOCK EXCHANGE - AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF IPOs DURING 2013-2018 Bachelor’s thesis Programme International Business Administration, specialisation Finance and Accounting Supervisor: Karin Jõeveer, PhD Tallinn 2018 I hereby declare that I have compiled the paper independently and all works, important standpoints and data by other authors has been properly referenced and the same paper has not been previously presented for grading. The document length is 8,384 words from the introduction to the end of conclusion. Stella Mylläri …………………………… (signature, date) Student code: 166310TVTB Student e-mail address:
[email protected] Supervisor: Karin Jõeveer, PhD: The paper conforms to requirements in force …………………………………………… (signature, date) Chairman of the Defence Committee: Permitted to the defence ………………………………… (name, signature, date) ABSTRACT This thesis presents the dynamic phenomenon of IPO underpricing by examining 38 initial public offerings that took place in the Helsinki Stock Exchange (HSE) between January 2013 and November 2018. Empirical findings of IPO underpricing is presented, supported by company specific reasoning and regression analyses. Three hypotheses are presented in respect to the regression analyses, therein the EBITDA multiple, the offering size and the percentage of primary shares issued. Additionally, prior art and prominent literature is conferred. It was found that investors who chose to invest in IPOs during the sample period were “rewarded” by underpricing with a median of 2.97%. Factors that resulted a higher underpricing included the listing venue and the company’s dominant industry. Hypotheses regarding the offering size, EBITDA multiple and the percentage of primary shares were testified true and so not having an effect on underpricing.