Market timing of new equity offerings: Evidence from Chinese listed firms

Abstract

A well-established paradigm of the developed financial market is that firms take advantage of market valuations to make financial decisions. Do firms operating in a highly controlled market follow similar financial strategies? We find that the new equity offerings of Chinese listed firms are strongly associated with market valuations. However, the market timing effectiveness is relatively lower in the firms owned by the State and in the time when firms conduct non-tradable share reform by liquidating non-tradable shares. We also find that the proceeds from equity offerings are expended more in the form of opportunistic and discretionary usage than investment requirements. Our empirical evidence supports the general applicability of the equity market timing theory to the highly controlled emerging market of China.