The Association between the Risk Factor Disclosures in IPO Prospectus, Strategic Alliances and Underpricing of Biotech Firms

本研究主要探討生技產業公開說明書之風險因子揭露以及首次公開發行(IPO, initial public offering)前之策略聯盟關係對首次公開發行折價所產生之影響。本研究以美國生技產業首次公開發行公司為研究對象，樣本期間為1997年至2012年。 許多文獻指出當初級市場認購人間資訊不對稱程度越大時，IPO價值之事前不確定性(ex ante uncertainty)越高，因此以事前不確定性的概念來衡量資訊不對稱程度，並透過公開說明書中資訊之揭露作為事前不確定性的代理變數以探討其與IPO折價現象之關聯。本研究即利用公開說明書之風險因子揭露作為事前不確定性的代理變數，並預期揭露的數量多寡與內容描述將影響IPO折價。另外，由於文獻指出策略聯盟所傳達的正面訊號，可能有助於生技公司減少因產業特性所造成的不確定性，因此本研究預期生技公司於IPO前擁有策略聯盟關係將影響IPO折價。 本研究參考過去文獻，建立資訊揭露的四級指標加上風險因子所揭露的項目多寡，系統性地衡量生技公司公開說明書之風險因子，並以多元迴歸分析檢測假說。實證結果顯示：風險因子的內容描述越具量化或越具體，IPO折價越大，並且發現大公司之風險因子揭露數量與IPO折價具正向關係，而生技公司於IPO前擁有策略聯盟關係對IPO折價幅度具有顯著負向關係。研究結果顯示公開說明書之風險因子揭露及策略聯盟與事前不確定性所產生之IPO折價現象之關聯性。This study investigates whether disclosure of risk factors in the prospectus and the effect of strategic alliances before IPO date will influence underpricing of the biotech firms. Data is collected for biotech companies of U.S IPOs issued from 1997 to 2012 as the research sample. Much literature indicates that the greater is the information asymmetry between different investors, the higher is the ex ante uncertainty about an initial public offering’s value. Hence, the ex ante uncertainty is measured as the degree of asymmetric information. And there are a number of studies that use different measurement as a proxy for ex-ante uncertainty including disclosures in the prospectus to examine its relation to underpricing. This study uses risk factors in the prospectus as a proxy for ex-ante uncertainty and expects that the quantity of risk factors and the content or description of risk factors will influence underpricing. Furthermore, since previous studies consider that strategy alliances convey a positive signal to investors which would reduce the uncertainty from the industrial characteristics of the biotech industry and would mitigate investors’ concern, this study expects that a biotech IPO with strategic alliances before IPO date will affect underpricing. Referring to past literature, this study builds four-class index for disclosure score and uses the number of risk factors to systematically measure risk factors in the prospectus. The empirical results show that a biotech IPO with more quantitative information or some specific information of risk factors will experience higher underpricing. In addition, in larger firms the greater are risk factors disclosed no matter the quantity or the content and its description, the higher is underpricing. And there is a significantly negative relation between strategic alliances before IPO date and underpricing. In conclusion, disclosure of risk factors in the prospectus and the effect of strategic alliances are related to underpricing as expected