The differential impact of the bank-firm relationship on IPO underpricing: evidence from China

This study investigates the impact of the bank-firm relationship on IPO underpricing in China, an emerging economy with a bank-dominated financial system. Utilizing a hand-collected loan data for 902 Chinese IPO firms from 2004 to 2011, we document that the bank-firm relationship reduces the degree of IPO underpricing. Both the lender's and the borrower's firm characteristics affect the signal quality of the bank-firm relationship, resulting in differential impacts on IPO underpricing. The relationship between firms and banks with high credit quality or the relationship between politically unconnected firms and banks has a more positive impact on mitigating IPO underpricing.