We examine the long-run returns earned by domestic, international, and US investors who purchase shares at the first open-market price in 158 share issue privatizations (SIPs) from 33 countries during the period 1981-1997. We compute one-, three-, and five-year net returns for domestic,...

We examine the impact of political, institutional, and economic factors on the choice between selling a state-owned enterprise in the public capital market through a share issue privatization (SIP) and selling it in the private capital market in an asset sale. SIPs are more likely in less...