Risk factor and use of proceeds declarations and their effects on IPO subscription, price 'fixings', liquidity and after-market returns

This paper addresses two important areas of voluntary disclosure for Hong Kong IPOs: (1) The risk factors surrounding a listing entity's business and offer and (2) an issuer's planned use of proceeds. Issuers assigning a greater fraction of proceeds to investment (debt repayment) generate higher (lower) subscription rates, price 'fixings' and after-market liquidity levels, as well as more (less) robust initial and longer-run returns. Greater enumeration of issue-based risk factors inflates after-market volatility but exerts little influence on other initial pricing characteristics. In contrast, enumerations on business and global risk factors bear strong negative association with longer-run returns. Additionally, risk factor enumeration and debt repayments are increasing in underwriter quality. However, such disclosures exhibit weak connection with state ownership.