Initial Credit Ratings and Firm Value : Evidence From Korean IPO Firms
Seung Hun Han
Yonghyun Kwon
Daejin Eum
This paper studies on the influence of initial credit rating of listed firms on the stock market and firm value. The fact that a firm become able to finance from the public capital market is a critical bifurcation of a firm¡¯s growth process. However, empirical studies on initial credit ratings are rare compared to those on initial public offerings. In particular, the threshold of listing has been lowered due to the special technology listing system and opened the Korea New Exchange (KONEX) market. However, current circumstances imply limitations since the fact that a firm is listed no longer fully demonstrate sustainability and financial soundness of a firm as a going concern. This paper verifies the effect of initial credit rating on corporate value through empirical analysis of initial credit rating cases of listed companies, which has been unclear up to now. In addition, this paper has meaningful implications in that it demonstrates the contribution of the credit rating in solving the limitations that occurred after the revision of the listing system in 2002.