Why the operating performance of post-IPO firms decreases: Evidence from China

Based on a database of 200 listed firms from the Growth Enterprise Market of China, this paper employs regression models to investigate the significance of IPO capital expenditure to firms' operating performance. It suggests that a vast majority of pre-IPO money is spent on business development to promote operating performance in order to meet IPO requirements. After the IPO, most of the money is transferred to equity investments in order to increase the firms' market value quickly, which leads to operating performance decline and deterioration.