Regional Differences and Underwriter Location in Initial Public Offerings

Equity capital is often an important source of funds for growing firms. In this paper we investigate the regional differences in the size of newly organized Initial Public Offerings, an important source of equity capital. We also investigate the importance of underwriter reputation and location to the size of the offering. Our findings suggest that underwriter reputation has a large positive impact on offering size even after controlling for firm specific characteristics. Finally, regional differences persist even after accounting for the relative location and reputation of the lead underwriter