Oyvind Norli

Liquidity Risk, Leverage and Long-Run IPO Returns

It is well known that IPO stocks on average substantially underperform (over 3-5 years) non-IPO stocks matched on firm size. With a large sample of Nasdaq IPOs, this paper presents systematic evidence that IPO stocks are less risky than the size-matched firms and thus have lower expected return. We show that, in the years immediately following the issue, IPO stocks have lower leverage ratios and higher liquidity (turnover) than matched firms. A model with macroeconomic risk factors further reveals that IPO stocks have lower exposures than matched firms to leveragerelated factors such as unexpected inflation and term-structure spreads. Moreover, when we introduce liquidity as a risk factor in a Fama-French type of model, we find that the liquidity factor also reduces expected returns to IPO stocks relative to matched firms. Controlling for risk using either factor model, we cannot reject the hypothesis of zero abnormal returns to IPO stocks.

Determinants of Intercorporate Shareholdings

This paper examines why firms choose to spend resources on acquiring ownership rights in other firms. Based on a unique data base of every individual intercorporate shareholding on the Oslo Stock Exchange during the period 1980–1994, we find that such investments serve at least three functions. First, they play a role incorporate governance, as managers in firms with low insider holdings, diffuse ownership structure and high free cash flow tend to mutually acquire equity stakes in each other, possibly in a collective attempt to protect their human capital in the market for corporate control. Second, interfirm equity holdings serve as financial slack for growing firms, reducing potential adverse selection costs by providing an internal funding source for new investments in long-term assets. Finally, our findings also suggest that intercorporate shareholdings are an integrated part of the investor’s cash flow management system by being a liquidity buffer when cash inflows and cash outflows are non-synchronous.