Kee-Hong Bae is a professor of Schulich School of Business, York University. His research interests include emerging financial markets, corporate govermance and international finance.

 

We propose a new hypothesis of cross-listing the relative industry valuation hypothesis. We argue that for a firm considering cross-listing on the U.S. stock market, valuation discrepancy between the firm’s home industry and the corresponding U.S. industry is an important factor for cross-listing decision. Consistent with the predictions of the hypothesis, we find that the extent of home industry undervaluation is positively related to the probability of cross-listing; croslisted firms from undervalued industries in the home markets realize significant valuation gains after the listing; and higher valuation of these firms following listing leads to more equity capital raising activity. These firms invest more after cross-listings and realize even higher grow rates than before listings.