Macroeconomic Effects of Initial Public Offer and Performance Equity Prices of Firms Listed in Nairobi Securities Exchange, Kenya

Market reacts differently to various factors ranging from economic political, and socio-cultural. The stock prices of quoted companies in Kenya are affected either positivity or negatively by a number of factors occurring within or without the economic system. Initial public offering is often issued by smaller, younger companies seeking the capital to expand, but can also be done by large privately owned companies looking to become publicly traded. The initial public offering is a vital step for young entrepreneurial firms, providing them access to the public equity market for the first time. Previous literature had focused primarily on initial public offering under-pricing phenomenon to measure the performance of companies. However, researchers argued that initial public offering pricing, which was a key factor in under-pricing had remained relatively unexplored in literature. The study employed descriptive research design. The study targeted a total population of 7 quoted companies in Nairobi security market, which had issued IPO from 2006-2020. The study depended on secondary data collected from the Nairobi Securities Exchange. Data was analysed by the use of SPSS. From the panel regression analysis, the interclass correlation (rho) was 0.310 implying that 31% of the variations in equity share prices are due to differences among the quoted firms. The within and between R-square was 0.0154 and 0.9967 respectively. The overall R2 was 0.9885, indicating that the variables considered in the model account for about 98.85% percent change in the dependent variables, while the remaining percent change may be as a result of other variables not addressed by this model. Dividend per share improved significantly after the IPO. Dividend per share was also established to improved significantly after the IPO. The study concludes that dividend per share, market capitalization and market liquidity improved in the post going public period. This is due to the proceeds received by companies from the sale of their shares to the public. In addition, the study concludes that firms benefit by going public despite potentially higher agency problems, at least for the first few years after the IPO. Becoming publicly traded provides financial capital to firms that helps them commercialize their products.