The transfer of listing to NYSE Euronext Paris: motivations and consequences for the company and its shareholders

Summary With financial globalization, increased international competition, and the growing importance of financial markets, every year hundreds of managers list their companies on the stock exchange or transfer the market where their company's securities are listed. Managers change the place or market of listing of their company's securities for various reasons. Among others, we can cite the search for greater visibility, prestige, liquidity or an alternative source of financing... This operation of change of listing market/compartment, like other operations on securities (takeover bids, public exchange offers, capital increases, share splits...) is likely to influence the price of the securities and certain financial characteristics of the companies that make it. The change of listing compartment within a stock exchange is a subject that has been relatively little treated in the financial literature. Its motivations and consequences have not been sufficiently explored. The objective of this research work is to fill this gap by seeking, first, to identify the determining factors of the transfer of compartment of quotation and second, to analyze the effects of the transfer of compartment of quotation on the value of the migrating company. In addition, we also try to find explanations for the observed market reactions. This research work is very interesting because it deals with a problem that has not been sufficiently addressed by the financial literature until now. Moreover, the theme is at the crossroads of several research fields in Finance (microstructure, market finance, corporate finance and accounting). It aims to shed light on the transfer of market quotation at several levels. First, beyond the methodological aspects, this research could help managers to better understand the economic consequences of their decision to transfer their company's securities to a more demanding, more visible and better regulated market. It could provide stock exchanges with new arguments to justify the creation or existence of several compartments adapted to the needs of the various issuing companies. Finally, this work could be used by investors to develop strategies to take advantage of market transfer operations.