The Short- And Long-Term Performance of Privatization Initial Public Offerings in Europe

This article investigates the return behaviorof privatization initial public offerings (PIPOs) in Europe over both theshort- and long-run horizons. Using data from a sample of 162 PIPOs over theperiod 1986-2008, we show that European PIPOs outperform, in terms ofrisk-adjusted abnormal returns, a benchmark market index and a portfoliocomposed of 162 European private IPOs, regardless of the horizon of analysis.Our results are important for both investors and policymakers with respect totheir investment and privatization decisions, and also allow a betterunderstanding of the financial performance behavior of the privatizedstate-owned enterprises.