Who bought cheap IPOs? A study of shareholders in Swedish IPOs 2006–2016

This paper analyzes initial public offerings (IPOs) and the post-IPO ownership structure of these firms. The study uses stock ownership records of Swedish firms, together with hand-collected IPO data to analyze the price level of the IPO share and its relationship with the ownership structure. This study shows that for cheap IPO stocks (low nominal priced), individual investors hold a relatively large fraction of the shares compared with IPO stocks with higher nominal price. However, there is a size effect, where the breadth of ownership is higher for larger firms. Thereby, the firm can affect their post-IPO ownership structure when setting the offer price. The study also suggests that there are signs of a seasonal effect, where first quarter IPOs in this sample on average yield a higher initial return.