Thank you for visiting my webpage! I am a Senior Lecturer in Finance at the University of Bristol and I hold a Ph.D. from the Swiss Finance Institute and USI Lugano. For more information, you can find my CV here: Curriculum Vitae.
Main research interests: Corporate Finance; Financial Intermediation
Email: giuseppe.pratobevera [at] bristol.ac.uk
Links: University of Bristol, LinkedIn, ResearchGate, Google Scholar, SSRN, ORCID, RePEc
Degeorge, F., & Pratobevera, G. (2025). Nepotism in IPOs: Consequences for issuers and investors. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 60(5), 2367-2397.
Headline summary: Using a regression discontinuity design (RDD) on a novel hand-collected dataset, we find that higher allocations to underwriter-affiliated funds cause higher IPO underpricing, resulting in monetary costs for issuers. [Preprint | Online appendix]
Pratobevera, G. (2024). Bank-affiliated institutional investors and IPO syndicates formation. Journal of Corporate Finance, 86, 102587.
Headline summary: IPO syndicate banks use affiliated institutional investors to support IPO prices, particularly in underperforming IPOs, to build relationships with lead underwriters and secure future underwriting business. [Preprint | Online appendix]
Pratobevera, G. (2022). Homework and finance students’ learning and achievement. Finance Research Letters, 46, 102496.
Headline summary: Increased effort on homework significantly boosts Master’s students’ final exam scores in an advanced finance class, supporting the idea that homework enhances learning and human capital. [Preprint]
Nefedova, T., & Pratobevera, G. (2020). Do institutional investors play hide-and-sell in the IPO aftermarket?. Journal of Corporate Finance, 64, 101627.
Headline summary: Institutional investors often sell IPO shares through non-lead brokers after buying them from lead underwriters to conceal their trades and break laddering agreements, avoiding penalties particularly within the first month and in underperforming IPOs. [Preprint]
Abstract: Using U.S. institutional equity trading data, I show that routing through affiliated brokers declines sharply following the SEC's 2004 compliance reforms, which strengthened monitoring, documentation, and board oversight. The decline is concentrated among investment managers with high pre-reform reliance on affiliated brokers and in large, high-commission orders, and it is matched by greater routing to unaffiliated brokers, primarily through pre-existing broker relationships. I then study trading outcomes in a difference-in-differences design that classifies fund--stock pairs by pre-reform exposure. Effects are heterogeneous: for money-manager funds, moving away from affiliated brokers is followed by worse execution and lower one-day realized returns; for pension-plan funds, the decline in affiliated routing is associated with lower commissions and improved net outcomes. Overall, the findings highlight a trade-off: tighter compliance and governance can reduce reliance on conflict-sensitive routing, but may also reduce the value of broker relationships and raise trading frictions.
Prestented at: Waseda University (2026), Manhattan University (2025), University of Manchester (2025), FBA Conference (2025), World Finance Conference (2024), U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (2023), University of Bristol (2022)
Geopolitical Risk and Green Transition: Evidence from Green and Sustainability-linked Loans
with Tobias Dieler, Klaus Schaeck, and Xueyi Wang
Abstract: We use the 2022 Russia-Ukraine war as a quasi-natural experiment to examine how geopolitical risk influences the green transition in the green and sustainable loan (GSLL) market. Using bilateral trade exposure as a proxy for geopolitical risk across 54 major economies, we find a significant postwar increase in the number and volume of GSLL originations in highly exposed countries. This suggests firms pursue green and sustainable investments as a hedge against geopolitical risks. Industry-level analysis shows that this increase is driven by low-exposed industries, while high-exposed industries exhibit a negative but statistically insignificant response. Exploring potential mechanisms at firm-level, we find that GSLL borrowers in low-exposed industries experience improved EBIT margins, while those in high-exposed industries face declining operating cash flows. These results highlight two distinct channels: low-exposed firms leverage green loans for growth and opportunity, while high-exposed firms prioritize financial survival by diverting resources away from green investments.
Best Paper Award (2025 International Conference in Banking and Financial Studies*)
Presented at: FMA Europe* (2026), EFMA* (2026), International Conference of the Financial Engineering and Banking Society* (FEBS, 2026), International Conference in Banking and Financial Studies* (2025), ESSEC-Luxembourg-CEPR Conference on Sustainable Financial Intermediation* (2025), 6th NSFE* (2025 - poster session), Sustainability and Green Finance Workshop* (2025 - poster session)
*Indicates presentation by coauthor
Abstract: When financing cost changes the balance on which it accrues, financing cost and balance-sheet exposure are jointly determined. This paper shows that, under common exposure conventions, the resulting correction is a simple geometric adjustment, and that errors from first-pass approximations or from using the wrong exposure base grow as financing rates rise and balances become larger or change more over the period. I then use Compustat annual data and reported interest expense as a descriptive calibration to compare exposure-base conventions. Across baseline specifications, the implied opening-balance weight is close to 0.5. The calibration points clearly away from a pure opening-balance convention and toward a midpoint-type benchmark, while a simulation shows that reconciling the estimates with a pure closing-balance convention requires substantial noise in the proxy for debt changes. Therefore, in accounting-based measures of financing cost, denominator choice is not innocuous, and midpoint-type bases are a sensible benchmark.
