• The Korean Journal of Financial Management
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.29-58
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• 2007

We develop a model to estimate the value of growth opportunities, which is based on the seminal papers of M&M(1961, 1963) and Lee(2006). Making use of the estimation model, we estimate a new proxy variable of the growth opportunities, other than the usual proxy variables such as quasi Tobin's Q, MBR, and so on. The new proxy variable of growth opportunities can represent a necessary condition to identify whether the increase in new investments are successful or not. The empirical findings on the growth opportunities during the IMF currency crisis period and the post-IMF period are as follows; First, the overall success rate of new investments is as low as 50%, that means only half of the listed firms were increasing new investments when they had the growth opportunities. Second, during the crisis, one third of the listed firms were experiencing negative growth opportunities. However, during the post-IMF period, the growth opportunities on new investments were turned to be positive due to the turnaround efforts of listed firms. Third, the value of intangible assets, which are resulting from the investment of R&D and human capital, are becoming more important than ever. It seems to be true that larger portions of the value of growth opportunities are coming from the intangible assets, not from the increases in new investments of the physical assets.