The Impact of Government Involvement on IPO Underpricing in Korea

IPO underpricing is a subject of great interest for researchers. Previous studies have focused on the underpricing of private venture capital-backed IPOs, but mainstream academic researchers have left underpricing in government-backed IPOs largely uninvestigated. In this study, we fill this gap by analyzing the behavior of IPO underpricing for government-backed IPOs in Korea. For the purpose of this study, we examine 468 IPO cases on the KOSDAQ market during the period between 2009 and 2019. Empirical evidence shows that a unique structure of government sponsorship effectively reduces the level of underpricing in the IPO market. In particular, the dual sponsorship of government hybrid funding and private venture capital contributes most significantly to reducing the underpricing in the IPO market.