International Journal of Financial Studies Article Why the Par Value of Share Matters to Investors Tadeusz Dudycz * and Bogumiła Brycz Faculty of Computer Science and Management, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract: The purpose of the study is the analysis of the relationship between the par value (also known as nominal value or face value) and the parameters influencing a company’s financing. Additionally, the utility of the par value as a manipulation tool for equity offerings is examined. The study is based on a sample of IPO firms which went public on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The study finds that an excess supply of shares has a negative impact on their valuation. In contrast, decreasing the par value prompts perceptual biases among investors beneficial to the success of the issuance. Moreover, share capital is found to be a useful signaling tool to improve the company’s position on the financial market. Keywords: par value; financing; share premium; share capital; signaling; face value; nominal value; share price psychology; IPO; WSE 1. Introduction The concept of par value (hereinafter PaV) was created to protect the public against fraud in the sale of stocks (Cook 1921). Par value is given to each share to represent the amount of capital contributed by each shareholder (Kee and Luh 1999), which cannot be Citation: Dudycz, Tadeusz, and redistributed during the existence of a corporation, and new shares cannot be sold below Bogumiła Brycz. 2021. Why the Par par value.