For some private companies, it is not a question of why go public, but rather what is the most appropriate time to conduct an IPO. In this context, this study aimed to verify if IPO decisions taken by eight Brazilian energy companies (CPFL, EDP, Cosan, Brasil Ecodiesel, São Martinho, Açúcar Guarani, MPX and OGX) during the period 2000-2009 were based on an IPO timing model developed by Draho (2000)DRAHO, J. The timing of initial public offerings: a Real option approach. Working Paper, Yale University, 2000., following the Real Options approach. As a result, we found that all the companies studied have anticipated their IPO timing related to Draho's model estimates.
IPO; real options; dynamic programming
