Market performance of US-listed Shipping IPOs

This article empirically analyses the initial and aftermarket returns for US-listed Shipping initial public offerings (IPOs). Our main objective is to fulfil the great need for the US Shipping evidence on long-run performance of IPOs. We aim to test the extent to which signalling models explain the reasons for the issuance of IPOs using the long-term price performance approach. We concentrate on a sample of 61 IPOs listed during the period 1987-2007 in four major US Stock Exchanges, computing buy-and-hold abnormal returns (BHARs) and cumulative average returns (CARs). The results show that US-listed Shipping IPOs are underpriced on initial trading day on average by only 4.44 per cent, a figure that indicates an outstanding level of maturity for the shipping sector. In the long run, Shipping IPOs listed in the United States offer 1-, 2- and 3-year holding period returns (BHAR) of 7.50, 7.73 and 3.26 per cent, respectively. The conclusion suggested by those results is that investing in the United States is not a guaranteed investment for long-term Shipping IPOs-oriented investors. Maritime Economics & Logistics (2010) 12, 36-64. doi:10.1057/mel.2009.18