The Impact on IPO Performance of Reforming IPO Allocation Regulations: An Event Study of Shanghai Stock Exchange A-Shares

Initial public offerings in China are distinguished from IPOs in other markets by their extremely high abnormal initial returns and so-called 'Chinese Characteristics'. We examine the effect on IPO underpricing and short-run performance of significant changes in Chinese IPO regulations implemented in May 2002. The significant event was a regulatory change in the method of allocating IPO shares. Event study analysis reveals that abnormal initial returns decreased by 43.3% after the change in regulations, that beta risks of the IPOs increased and that an evenly-upward trend of cumulative abnormal initial returns was reversed to become evenly-downward. The results appear to be consistent with Information Cascades (Welch 1992) and Bandwagon (Ritter 1998) models of underpricing.