Discussion paper

DP2681 The Geography of Equity Listing: Why Do Companies List Abroad?

This Paper documents the aggregate trends in the foreign listings of companies and analyses both their distinctive pre-listing characteristics and their post-listing performance relative to other companies. In the 1986-97 interval, many European companies listed abroad, but did so mainly on US exchanges. At the same time, the number of US companies listed in Europe decreased. The cross-listings of European companies appear to have sharply different motivations and consequences depending on whether they cross-list in the United States or within Europe. In the first case, companies pursue a strategy of rapid expansion and large equity issues after the listing. They rely increasingly on export markets and tend to belong to high-tech industries. In the second case, companies do not grow more than the control group, and increase their leverage after the cross-listing. The only features common to all cross-listing companies are their large size and their tendency to be recently privatized companies.

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Citation

Pagano, M, A Röell and J Zechner (2001), ‘DP2681 The Geography of Equity Listing: Why Do Companies List Abroad?‘, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 2681. CEPR Press, Paris & London. https://cepr.org/publications/dp2681