The fundamental performance of newly privatized firms: evidence from continental Europe

We examine the fundamental performance of 32 companies from 10 Continental European countries that were privatized through public share offerings since 1992. We document strong performance improvements. Specifically, after being privatized, firms significantly increase real sales, become more profitable and improve their operating efficiency. The results remain robust when we split our data into subsamples of companies in regulated and nonregulated industries. Although employment does not change significantly, it decreases in regulated industries.