Determinants of Voluntary Delisting in Post-Transition Markets: Evidence from Poland

This study examines the determinants of voluntary delisting on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, a leading post-transition market in Central and Eastern Europe. Using a mixed-methods design that combines a multiple cross-case study of 10 firms delisted between 2010 and 2024 with propensity score matching and a Cox proportional-hazards model, the analysis identifies the firm-level features associated with exiting from public trading. The qualitative evidence suggests that high ownership concentration above the 90% squeeze-out threshold, negative average return on equity in the 5 years preceding withdrawal and operation in mature, slow-growing industries are recurrent patterns, whereas company age at initial public offerings and listing duration are not. The Cox model with a time-varying effect indicates that the influence of the price-to-earnings ratio on delisting risk strengthens with listing tenure, consistent with a market-timing interpretation in which dominant shareholders exploit sustained favourable valuation windows to execute squeeze-outs. The study contributes to the corporate governance literature by providing preliminary evidence on the applicability of market-timing and wealth-transfer theories in a post-transition setting and offers exploratory implications for minority-shareholder protection and regulatory oversight.