Post-Initial Public Offering Performance Drift: Evidence from Bangladesh

Abstract

This paper examines if there is any post-IPO performance drift in the stock market of Bangladesh using five different performance indicators. We use 300 firm-year observations of 50 IPO firms from the period of 2009 to 2014, compiled from the annual reports and prospectuses of these firms. The results show that there is a statistically significant decline in performance measured by operating ROA after going public. The results may indicate the 'window dressing' of the accounting numbers in the pre-IPO period.