PIPEs Around the World

Abstract

Public investment in private equity (PIPE) is a financing form growing in popularity in the U.S., recently surpassing seasoned equity offerings in number and value. Research to date is highly focused on the U.S., with little attention paid to international markets. We use newly available data to examine PIPE deals in Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, and the U.K. We document similarities and differences relative to the U.S. market. PIPE firms tend to be small, high-growth firms with poor accounting and stock performance prior to PIPE issuance. However, these stylized facts do not hold uniformly across the exchanges we study. We also document a lack of significant market reaction to the announcement of PIPE deals on these exchanges.

TOPICS: Private equity, developed, performance measurement, technical analysis