Initial underpricing and transfer of shares on the Tunisian stock exchange

Abstract

In this empirical study, the incidence of the shares transfers by the original shareholders on the degree of the initial underpricing is studied, using a sample of Tunisian candidates companies over the 1992-2006 period. Our empirical results make it possible to confirm the existence of a significant initial underpricing of about 19% and which depends closely on the behavior of shares transfer. More precisely, the original and the controlling shareholders, in order to limit the transfer of wealth towards the new shareholders, reduce the degree of IPO underpricing.