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US banks making prime rate revisions are known to suffer stock price declines, which is consistent with the Stiglitz–Weiss adverse selection theory, given the relative stickiness of interest rates. If banks suffer price declines, then why are some banks consistent leaders when revising prime rates? This research question is the focus of our paper and is examined in the relatively concentrated banking system of Singapore. Lead banks in Singapore initiating a large number of rate increases earned an average abnormal return of 5.2%, while non-lead banks also experienced positive abnormal returns of 3.9%, a result not in agreement with US-specific evidence. We argue that the rate increases (decreases) resulting in a significant stock price increase (decrease) for lead banks are consistent with a valuation effect in a concentrated banking system. Our results could be explained as a valuation effect from anticipated higher profits or as reward for being first. The first mover advantage may thus also have signaling value on quality.

We analyze the valuation effects of the Canadian federal government's announcement on November 23, 2005 of a reduction in the taxation of corporate dividends and the announcement on October 31, 2006 of a plan to eliminate the tax-deductibility of income trust distributions. Though high dividend stocks and income trusts reacted positively to the 2005 announcement, the abnormal returns were greater for income trusts. Conversely, both securities reacted negatively to the 2006 announcement with the decline bigger for income trusts. The larger price reactions of income trusts and the lack of statistical significance in the cross-sectional tests of the abnormal returns suggest that the popularity of income trusts in Canada was mostly driven by their favourable income tax status. The implications of these findings for scholarship and for practice are discussed. Copyright © 2008 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Cette etude analyse les effets des annonces faites par le gouvernement federal le 23 novembre 2005 et le 31 octobre 2006 et portant respectivement sur la reduction de l'imposition des dividendes des societes et sur un plan d'elimination de la deductibilite fiscale des repartitions de fiducies de revenu. Les resultats indiquent que les actions beneficiaires elevees et les fiducies de revenu ont reagi positivement a l'annonce de 2005, et negativement a l'annonce de 2006. Par ailleurs, en 2005, les rendements anormaux etaient plus eleves pour les fiducies de revenu, et plus bas en 2006. Les grandes ripostes par les prix des fiducies de revenu et le manque de signification statistique dans les tests transversaux des rendements anormaux suggerent que le succes des fiducies de revenu au Canada etait surtout du a leur statut fiscal favorable. L'etude s'acheve par un examen de ses implications theoriques et pratiques. Copyright © 2008 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Large current account deficits, and the corresponding reliance on capital flows from abroad, can increase a country’s vulnerability to periods of heightened risk and uncertainty. This paper develops a framework to evaluate such vulnerabilities. It highlights the central importance of two financial factors: income on international investments and changes in the valuations of those investments. We show how the characteristics of a country’s international investment portfolio ‒ the size of its international asset and liability holdings, their currency denominations, their split between equity and debt exposures, and their return characteristics ‒ affect the dynamics of these financial factors. Then we decompose those dynamics into their drivers and explore how they are affected by domestic and global risk. We apply this framework to 10 OECD economies, showing the flexibility of this approach and how the countries’ different international investment portfolios generate different dynamics in international investment income and positions. These examples, including a more detailed assessment based on an SVAR for the UK, show that a substantial degree of international risk sharing can occur through current accounts and international portfolios. Our framework clarifies which characteristics of a country’s international portfolio determine whether a current account deficit is “menacing” or “mitigating”.

We provide evidence on two qualitative characteristics of financial reporting errors deemed immaterial by management (immaterial errors) and benchmark these characteristics against those of material errors corrected by restatements. With regard to relevance for equity valuation, our results suggest that investors find immaterial errors relevant, in particular those that are more severe, with valuation effects smaller than those associated with restatements disclosed in form 8-K. With regard to predictive ability for reporting quality, we find immaterial errors are informative about financial reporting reliability because they indicate increased propensities for three outcomes known to be associated with negative economic consequences: future material errors, immaterial errors and material weakness assessments. The predictive ability of immaterial errors for reporting quality is not qualitatively different from that of material errors. Viewed in the context of previous research on material errors, our results support the view that immaterial errors are informative about reporting quality; this qualitative characteristic is not part of the authoritative guidance management applies in assessing materiality of financial reporting errors. Our analysis informs debates about materiality assessments from an investor perspective.

We demonstrate that large funding value adjustments (FVAs) being made by derivatives dealers to the disclosed valuations of their swap books are not consistent with any coherent notion of fair market value. Essentially the same funding cost adjustment is a reduction in the dealer's equity value. This reduction in equity value is exactly offset by the sum of an upward adjustment to a dealer's debt valuation (as a wealth transfer from shareholders) and a change in the present value of the dealer's financial distress costs. While others have already suggested that FVA accounting suffers from coherence problems, this paper is the first to identify and characterize these problems in the context of a full structural model of a dealer's balance sheet. In addition to giving an appropriate theoretical foundation for funding value adjustments, our model shows how dealers' bid and ask quotes should be adjusted so as to compensate shareholders for the impact of both funding costs and the dealer's own default risk. We also establish a pecking order for preferred swap financing strategies, characterize the valuation effects of initial margin financing (known as "MVA"), and provide a new interpretation of the standard debit value adjustment (DVA).

Large current account deficits, and the corresponding reliance on capital flows from abroad, can increase a country's vulnerability to periods of heightened risk and uncertainty. This paper develops a framework to evaluate such vulnerabilities. It highlights the central importance of two financial factors: income on international investments and changes in the valuations of those investments. We show how the characteristics of a country's international investment portfolio - the size of its international asset and liability holdings, their currency denominations, their split between equity and debt exposures, and their return characteristics - affect the dynamics of these financial factors. Then we decompose those dynamics into their drivers and explore how they are affected by domestic and global risk. We apply this framework to ten OECD economies, showing the flexibility of this approach and how the countries' different international investment portfolios generate different dynamics in international investment income and positions. These examples, including a more detailed assessment based on an SVAR for the United Kingdom, show that a substantial degree of international risk sharing can occur through current accounts and international portfolios. Our framework clarifies which characteristics of a country's international portfolio determine whether a current account deficit is "menacing" or "mitigating".

A central problem in conducting an event study of the valuation effects of corporate governance reforms is that most reforms affect all firms in a country. Share price changes may reflect the reforms, but could also reflect other information. We address this identification issue by studying India's adoption of major governance reforms (Clause 49). Clause 49 requires, among other things, audit committees, a minimum number of independent directors, and CEO/CFO certification of financial statements and internal controls. The reforms were sponsored by the Confederation of Indian Industry (an organization of large Indian public firms), applied initially to larger firms, and reached smaller public firms only after a several-year lag. The difference in effective dates offers a natural experiment: large firms are the treatment group for the reforms; small firms provide a control group for other news affecting India generally. The May 1999 announcement by Indian securities regulators of plans to adopt what became Clause 49 is accompanied by a 4 percent increase in the price of large firms over a two-day event window (the announcement date plus the next trading day), relative to smaller public firms; the difference grows to 7 percent over a five-day event window and 10 percent over a two-week window. Mid-sized firms had an intermediate reaction. Faster-growing firms gained more than other firms, consistent with firms that need external equity capital benefiting more from governance rules. Cross-listed firms gained more than other firms, suggesting that local regulation can sometimes complement, rather than substitute for, the benefits of cross-listing. The positive reaction of large Indian firms contrasts with the mixed reaction to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (which is similar to Clause 49 in important respects), suggesting that the value of mandatory governance rules may depend on a country's prior institutional environment.

The study tests the abnormal returns of announcements of joint-venturing in Mainland China by Hong Kong-based companies. As the Hong Kong stock market is one of the most mature stock markets in the world, the response of the stock price should be among the best quality. Thus the positive response suggests that international joint ventures provide potential profits to the parent firms, which is predicted by the nowadays standard eclectic theory. The result supports the hypothesis of abnormal returns.

This paper presents a detailed framework and analysis to address whether the US is on track to becoming a society of “sharecroppers,” paying a large and growing share of income to foreign owners of US assets, or rather is more likely to continue as a society of “shrewd capitalists” with the cost of servicing international debt remaining relatively low and manageable despite growing international debt. Various scenarios illustrate the reliability of the modeling framework and show how alternative future paths for key variables affect the outcomes. The relationships determining the international flows and relative debt levels—including relative rates of return, asset portfolio compositions, valuation effects, and the outlook for an improving US trade position—indicate that a manageable and sustainable outlook is more likely than often considered to be the case. Results also show, however, the extent to which the outlook is vulnerable to the loss of “exorbitant privilege.”

We examine the valuation effects of overall demand for corporate equities combined with the influence of abnormal earnings and unexpected funds flow. Our results indicate that the expected and unexpected net new total flow of funds into all stock mutual funds do not by themselves have a meaningful effect on firm equity valuation. However, we find the combination of unexpected funds flow and realized abnormal earnings have significant and important valuation effects. Importantly, the valuation impact is greatest for those firms with high earnings growth potential that also operate in an environment characterized by high information asymmetry.

The unique characteristics of newly public firms may motivate acquisitions and cause a unique market perception and performance following these acquisitions. For a sample of more than 400 acquisitions that were made within a year of the IPO, we find that newly public firms experience favorable valuation effects following announcements of their acquisitions. Firms are more likely to finance using stock and the valuation effects are less favorable during the Internet bubble and when venture capitalists are present. Finally, long-term performance following the acquisitions is not different than newly public firms that do not make acquisitions, suggesting that the expected benefits at the time of the announcement do not materialize.

Since foreign high-tech firms exhibit a high level of asymmetric information, there is much investor skepticism surrounding the potential benefits to US firms that acquire them. However, the investor perception may be more favorable when the acquisitions involve more visible targets and advice from investment banks with a strong reputation. Based on a sample of 503 high-tech cross-border acquisitions, bidding-firm shareholders experience positive but statistically insignificant valuation effects overall. However, bidder firms experience positive and significant valuation effects when the foreign high-tech target receives a high level of media attention and when the acquisition is endorsed by a top-tier investment bank. Visibility and credibility enhance the perceived benefits of acquiring foreign targets that have substantial intangible assets and a high level of asymmetric information.

By implementing Regulation Fair Disclosure (RFD), the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) intention is to ensure that all market participants have equal access to information, thereby preventing the flow of material information to analysts before other participants. We find that the negative valuation effects of profit warnings are attenuated following the introduction of RFD. This finding implies that since the implementation of RFD, the market appears to rely less on profit warning announcements. We also find that RFD has effectively reduced the leakage of material information to the analyst's favored clients, the market response to profit warnings is less negative when the issuing firm has multiple warnings, and when the warning does not apply beyond the prevailing quarter.

We provide a link between diversification discount and corporate use of financial derivatives. We show that diversified firms benefit from financial risk management. Our findings are consistent with the notion that derivative usage lowers information asymmetry and thereby reduces the negative valuation effects of diversification. Our evidence complements the earlier findings of both the risk management literature and diversification discount literature and is robust to controls for endogeneity and information asymmetry levels.

We use the chain of events from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the reunification of Germany to examine how capital market participants respond to momentous and unprecedented events. Our examination measures the impact of these events on analysts’ forecasts for the earnings of West German firms. Our results show a significant decrease in analysts’ ability to accurately forecast earnings. Contrary to the public’s euphoria, the sense of the market was generally negative about the implications of unification for West German firms. This negative sentiment was spread across most of the broad sectors, but within those sectors the results were significantly positive for select groups of industries. It appears that, in the face of this extraordinary event, financial analysts were detached from the emotions it engendered and were discriminating in their assessment of its impact.

Using global product design and development as an example of global strategic alliance, I find that successful global strategic competition is still largely a variable cost reduction game as opposed to the recently touted fixed cost amortization game. Further, the firm's cost efficiency is enhanced when its global production initiative is characterized by a high degree of strategic alliances. Importantly, I find that global strategic alliances have both valuation effects and long-term operating effects, and that both effects are positive functions of the degree of strategic alliances. After controlling for pertinent explanatory factors such as competitive strategy posture, industry concentration, geographic spread of operation, product-type, and information technology infrastructure of firms, I find that variable cost and production efficiencies remain significant determinants of the valuation effects of global business alliances. Overall, results in this study suggest partnering firms should consider the relative efficiencies of inputs and production technology as effective ways of leveraging the benefits of global strategic alliances.

This paper provides evidence on how the new international regulation on Global Systemically Important Banks (G-SIBs) impacts the market value of large banks. We analyze the stock price reactions for the 300 largest banks from 52 countries across 12 relevant regulatory announcement and designation events. We observe that the new regulation negatively affects the value of the newly regulated banks, yet that the official designation of banks as “globally systemically important” itself has a partly offsetting positive impact. A cross-sectional analysis of the valuation effects with respect to, for example, government ownership of banks supports the view that the positive reaction to these designations can be attributed to a Too-Big-to-Fail (TBTF) perception by investors. The fact that these valuation effects emerge from a regulation specifically designed to reduce the costs and risks of Too-Big-to-Fail demonstrates the inherently paradoxical nature of the new regulation. These results further suggest that even though the individual components of the regulation have been effective, revealing the identities of G-SIBs eliminated ambiguity about the presence of government guarantees, and thereby may have run counter to the regulators’ intent to contain the effects of TBTF.

This research aims to analyze the impact of Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) investments on the values of companies in which they invest. We attempt to provide evidences of the effects of SWF investment activities by examining the short-term impact of SWF investments on the performance of the companies. In order to quantify the valuation effects of SWF investments, we collect data on equity investments for each SWF and we use the event study methodology to estimate abnormal returns to the shares around the times that news of the transactions of SWFs becomes publicly available. The sample consists of 61 investments by 11 important SWFs from around the world (China, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Russia, France etc.) during the period 2003 to 2014. We find that the anouncement effect of SWF investments in the listed companies is positive and the level of transparency of SWFs influence the positive impact of SWF investments on the performance of those companies in which they invest.

Recent empirical studies have highlighted that valuation effects associated with fluctuations of nominal exchange rates are one of the key components that drive the behaviour of the net foreign assets position of a country. In this paper, we propose a two-country overlapping-generations model of nominal exchange rate determination with endogenous portfolio choice in line with this evidence. We show that a country runs a current account deficit when its share of world GDP decreases. As the domestic currency depreciates in equilibrium, a positive wealth effect partially offsets the current deficit and therefore has a stabilizing impact on the net external position of the country. The model rationalizes the deterioration of the US external position over the past 20 years as a consequence of the rise of emerging market countries in the world economy, while being consistent with the fact the US have experienced positive valuation effects. Numerical results indicate that valuation effects are quantitatively relevant as they account for more than half of the cumulated US current account deficits, consistently with the data.

We examine the relation between the degree of short sale constraints for acquiring firms' equity and post takeover stock performance. We find that negative long-run abnormal returns appear to decline (in economic and statistical terms) as the extent and persistence of institutional block-holder ownership increase, after accounting for the size, book-to-market and method of payment effects. In the spirit of Miller (1977), such evidence implies that the degree of short sale constraints serves as an important determinant of acquiring firms' short-run overpricing. It appears that the presence of concentrated institutional presence mitigates and in most cases eliminates, through effective arbitrage, any short-run overpricing that may be responsible for the long-run underperformance of acquirers, preserving in this way efficiency in the takeover markets.

Studies have shown that when two information providers or outside auditors exist, the value provided by the second one will be decreased by the actions of the first. Credit rating agencies have been rating bank loans since 1996. Capitalizing on the highly similar functions performed by banks and these agencies, the informational value of bank loan ratings is examined. Further, evidence is provided on whether rating agencies duplicate the certifying and monitoring roles played by banks. The significant market reaction to negative bank loan rating announcements suggests these rating actions convey information beyond that provided via bank loan approvals and renewals.

The American twin deficits are back. One obvious cost is a possible hard landing. A less obvious possibility is that imperial overstretch could eventually cost the US its global hegemony. This paper addresses many challenges to the twin deficits view that have been offered: the Starve the Beast rationale for the budget deficit, the straw-man question of whether the budget and current account deficits are always twins, the wishful thinking that the US has an investment boom, the correct point that private saving is low as well as public saving, the claim of a global savings glut, the observation that global financial markets are big, the hope that valuation effects or unmeasured services as world banker will allow Americans to continue the exorbitant privilege of consuming at others’ expense indefinitely, and the proposition that China will happily buy dollars indefinitely. When all novel viewpoints are considered, one is still left with the reality of an unsustainable path of high budget deficits, low national saving, and high current account deficits.

We examine the industry valuation effects of analyst stock revisions and identify the variables that influence these effects. Our results show that industry rivals experience significant abnormal returns in response to revision announcements. Although the mean stock price response suggests contagion effects, there is also evidence of significant competitive effects. The valuation effects are influenced by the magnitude of the rated firm's announcement return, along with analyst-specific and industry-specific characteristics. However, the sensitivity of the valuation effects to these characteristics is conditioned on whether the industry effects are contagious or competitive.

Miller (1977) hypothesizes that dispersion of investor opinion in the presence of short-sale constraints leads to stock price overvaluation. However, previous empirical tests of Miller's hypothesis examine the valuation effects of only one of these two necessary conditions. We examine the valuation effects of the interaction between differences of opinion and shortsale constraints. We find robust evidence of significant overvaluation for stocks that are subject to both conditions simultaneously. Stocks are not systematically overvalued when either one of these two conditions is not met.

The Sarbanes–Oxley (Sarbox) legislation aimed to reduce the opacity of financial statements and improve the integrity of financial reporting by enhancing corporate disclosure and governance practices. We estimate the valuation effects of Sarbox for firms in the financial services industry and find that, except for securities firms, these firms significantly benefited from its adoption. As hypothesized, these positive effects may be attributed to expected improvement in the transparency of the relatively opaque financial services firms. We find that the cross-sectional variation in the valuation effects can be explained by disclosure and governance characteristics. Several of the significant factors are supportive of a compliance cost hypothesis. In particular, we find that the effects were less favorable for firms with less independent audit committees, without a financial expert on the audit committee, with less financial statement footnote disclosures, with less involved CEOs, and if they were smaller. In addition, reflecting the value of stronger governance, more favorable effects occurred for firms with a greater degree of independence of the board and the board committees, when there is greater motivation and ability of board members to monitor the firm, and with a greater degree of institutional ownership. Lastly, we find the wealth effects of firms viewed as non-compliant are significantly lower than firms viewed as compliant, and the variation across the group of non-compliant firms is explained by disclosure and governance measures.

I examine whether the unique attributes of new ventures cause these firms to experience different M&A outcomes vis-a-vis established firms. I also wish to test how the differences between these two classes of buyers play out in acquisitions of privately-held and newly-incorporated targets. Drawing from a sample of high-technology acquisitions, the results show that new ventures experience lower average performance in general, as well as when the target is itself a new venture. Yet, they outperform established firms when the target is a privately-held entity. The findings demonstrate that the challenges and opportunities of firms shift through the first few years of their existence, directly affecting the outcomes of their M&A activity.

PurposeThis paper aims to test the irrelevance proposition whereby changes in capital structure do not affect firm value.Design/methodology/approachThe long‐run effect of changes in capital structure on firm value is examined, using a sample of 243 French firms over the period 1987‐1996.FindingsThe null hypothesis cannot be rejected. No evidence is found to support a significant relationship between the changes in debt ratios and the changes in value. To assess the strength of this finding, control for reversion towards the target debt level induced by the static trade‐off theory is introduced. Similar results were obtained.Originality/valueThis paper is one of the first to analyze the long‐term relationship between financial structure changes and value, and to propose a direct test for the irrelevance proposition.

This paper investigates the beneficial economic consequences and market and accounting based valuation effects of troubled debt restructurings (TDR) in financially distressed debtor firms. Relying on the implications of prior research and extant valuation theories, some empirical evidence on the beneficial outcomes and informativeness of TDR is first provided: significantly positive restructuring interval excess returns and higher excess returns to subsequently consummated restructurings and subsequent survivors. The market reaction to “full-settlement” and “modification of terms” types of TDR are also measured to evaluate the consistency of the FASB's binary classification and recognition criteria with the market participants' assessments. Finally, a valuation model conditional on book values and earnings is used to test the value relevance of the reported financial statement bottom lines and TDR related disclosure. The findings suggest that modifications are at least as beneficial and informative as full settlements. Hence, the recognition of the reduction in the liability and the related gain in the financial statements of firms that undertake modifications would be more congruent with the valuation effects assessed by market participants. Key words: Private workouts, Financial distress, Debt restructuring, Valuation, Capital markets, SFAS No.15. JEL: G14, G33, G38, M41

The valuation effects of US acquirers of high-tech targets are dependent on factors specific to the acquirers or targets. Specifically, acquisitions of public high-tech targets yield negative valuation effects on average, while acquisitions of private high-tech targets yield favorable valuation effects. When acquisitions of public high tech targets are examined separately, we find that deals advised by top-tier banks elicit a more favorable share price response than those advised by either mid or third-tier banks. Acquisitions of private high-tech targets that are certified by an investment bank of any tier experience the most favorable announcement effects. Furthermore, the valuation effects are more favorable when the target has less intangible assets and when the targets receive more media exposure prior to the acquisition announcement.

We document positive valuation effects around the time of stock market liberalization. We find that the valuation effects are larger for countries with civil law traditions compared with countries with common law origins. Similarly, we find that countries with weaker shareholder protections exhibit greater market valuation increases compared with countries with stronger shareholder protections. The results reinforce the importance of country legal systems and of shareholder protections in determining the quality of corporate governance systems and financial market outcomes. The findings suggest that stock market liberalization may mitigate deficiencies in the existing institutional environments not supportive of effective corporate governance systems.

Mergers and acquisitions are well-suited events for a detailed study of the valuation effects of corporate governance structures. Using a sample of 388 takeovers announced in the friendly environment of the 1990s, I empirically show that target shareholder control, proxied by low target chief executive officer share ownership, low fractions of inside directors, and the presence of large outside blockholders, is positively correlated with takeover premiums. In contrast, studies of takeovers in the hostile environment of the 1980s have shown a negative relation between target shareholder control and takeover premiums.

Significant market value effects of research and development (R&D) are generally apparent, but aggregate evidence has the potential to obscure meaningful differences according to firm size. Consistent with findings reported by Chauvin and Hirschey (1993) for the late 1980s, valuation effects of R&D remain somewhat greater for larger as opposed to smaller firms.

We investigate stock price reactions to Internet-related name changes in a market downturn. In contrast to the Internet boom period, during which there was a surge of dot.com additions, in the bust period, there is a dramatic reduction in the pace of dot.com additions accompanied by a rapid increase in dot.com name deletions. Following the Internet bcrashQ of mid-2000, investors react positively to name changes for firms that remove dot.com from their name. This dot.com deletion effect produces cumulative abnormal returns on the order of 64% for the 60 days surrounding the announcement day. Our results add support to a growing body of literature that documents that investors are potentially influenced by cosmetic effects and that managers rationally time corporate actions to take advantage of these biases. D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

On July 19, 2002 WorldCom sought protection from its creditors when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, earning the distinction as the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. The events surrounding this history-making occurrence provide an important opportunity to examine the repercussions for WorldCom's stakeholders. We especially focus on the valuation effects of the WorldCom failure on exposed financial institutions for their important monitoring roles as institutional investors and creditors. Despite the heightened uncertainty facing investors during this period, we find that the market is remarkably efficient in distinguishing among the various types of stakeholders. In particular, institutional investors and creditors are largely unaffected by the events, which is expected based on the benefit of diversification. In contrast, large and key competitors are adversely affected by the events, which may be attributed to scrutiny of rivals that are perceived to be facing similar problems. Furthermore, for large and key competitors, these results indicate that contagion effects dominate competitive effects.

This study reports the results of contingent valuation (CV) studies conducted in eight states in the United States. Over 1,100 telephone interviews examined valuation effects on residential propert...

This study provides evidence that Mexican firms that choose to trade in the United States as exchange-listed American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) have significantly weaker ex-post (subsequent to cross-listing) financial performances than Mexican firms that are eligible to list in the United States but choose not to do so. Our study is related to the generalizabililty of two streams of international research: global equity offerings studies (e.g., ( Errunza & Miller, 2003 , Foerster & Karolyi, 2000 ) [Errunza, V. & Miller, D. 2003 Valuation effects of seasoned global equity offerings. Journal of Banking and Finance (September), 1611–1631; Foerster, S. & Karolyi, G., 2000. The Long-run performance of global equity offerings. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis (December), 499–527]), based on large, multi-country samples, which show that ADR firms substantially underperform local-market benchmark company returns in years following issuance and accounting characteristics of ADR firms research (e.g., ( Lang, Raedy, & Yetman, 2003 ) [Lang, M., Raedy, J. Smith, & Yetman, M. (2003). How representative are firms that are cross-listed in the United States? An analysis of accounting quality. Journal of Accounting Research]), which employ a multi-country sample and conclude that ADR firms are less aggressive in terms of earnings management and that they report accounting data that are more strongly associated with share prices. The cited studies above use relatively large samples, which are usually considered to be advantageous, but such studies tend to mask individual country differences in market efficiency, legal protections for shareholders, disclosure environment, and shareholder-class features that make generalizations tenuous. We show that cross-listed (ADR) Mexican firms, on average, are smaller, more highly levered, and less profitable than non-cross-listed (NCL) firms. Further, logistic regression models for classifying various ADR and NCL groupings of firms, using financial variables and other firm characteristics, are highly significant. While supplemental tests of earnings quality suggest that NCL firms exhibit nominally smoother earnings, that evidence is not sufficient to explain the stronger financial performance reported for those firms relative to ADR firms. Finally, our tests of value relevance, using book value and earnings to explain price, show significantly higher explanatory power for the ADR firms and generally non-significant explanatory power for the NCL firms. The value-relevance results may indicate that investors in Mexican ADR firms benefit from U.S. regulation and that reported market inefficiency in Mexico may result in low demand for financial statements of NCL firms. This study has the advantage of focusing on a single, emerging-market economy (Mexico, the United State's second-largest trade partner) in contrast to most previous ADR research that uses multi-country samples dominated by developed-market countries. It is also one of the first ADR studies to deal with selection-bias issues by comparing ADR and NCL firms. To gain these advantages, however, we must conduct tests on and draw conclusions from a relatively small sample.

Bank profit warnings represent a milder form of negative news than a bank failure. Yet, they may contain signals about a bank or its rivals because the information is transmitted when the bank believes that the market is overly optimistic about its future earnings. Thus, the profit warning serves as a means by which insiders of the bank can reduce the asymmetric information between the bank’s insiders and its investors. We find that banks experience negative valuation effects in response to their profit warnings. The banks’ profit warnings result in significant negative valuation effects for its corresponding rival banks, which implies that the warning carries valuable information about banking industry conditions. However, the effects on rivals are attenuated since the passage of Regulation Fair Disclosure (RFD). This implies that investors may be relying on more transparent sources of information about individual banks rather than relying on one bank’s warning as a signal about other banks. Furthermore, bank regulations may allow for more transparent communication by banks than that of nonbank firms.

A partial acquisition represents a unique form of corporate restructuring because it alters the ownership structure of two entities (in opposite ways), and therefore alters the form of control over the target's management. The proportion of the partial target that is owned by other shareholders is reduced by the increase in ownership by the partial acquirer. Yet, the transaction is unique in that the target firm continues as a going concern. Therefore, the target can be evaluated over time to determine the impact of the restructuring. Given the shift in ownership structure and control over the partial target, the performance of partial targets could be affected. It is found that while the partial targets experience favourable valuation effects at the time of the announcement, there is no evidence of unusual long-term performance beyond the initial announcement effects. Therefore, the realized benefits to the partial target due to improved monitoring by the partial acquirer are limited on average to the in...

Previous studies have found significant but time-varying valuation effects associated with real estate investment trusts initial public offerings (REIT IPOs). Because REIT IPOs may disclose relevant information about real estate market conditions, they may serve to revalue existing real estate securities. To determine whether REIT IPOs signal information that is impounded into the share prices of other real estate securities, we assess the returns on “rival” portfolios of existing real estate securities upon the issuance of the IPO. On average, the “rival” portfolios experience insignificant effects on the REIT IPO filing date, but negative and significant abnormal returns around the issue date. A cross-sectional analysis of combined effects at the time of the filing date and issue date shows that the negative effects on the “rival” portfolios are more pronounced when (1) the size of the REIT IPO is larger, (2) market conditions are relatively weak, (3) more REIT IPOs come to market, and (4) the IPO is not associated with an umbrella partnership REIT.

This paper finds significant differences in the price impacts around the announcement date for domestic and international seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) by Canadian issuers cross-listed on US trade venues. Important determinants that differ by US cross-listing trade venue are identified for the price impacts associated with domestic and international SEOs. The significant determinants are variables that proxy for positive private and public firm information for the domestic SEOs of issuers cross-listed on NASDAQ, and are mainly variables that proxy for negative private information for the domestic SEOs of issuers cross-listed on the NYSE/AMEX. Good and bad news affect domestic and international SEOs favorably and unfavorably, respectively. The only common determinant for the domestic and international SEOs and for domestic SEOs for both groupings of US listing venues is whether or not the issue is primary.

We examine the profitability and valuation of retail firms identified by suppliers as major customers, using major customer relationships to proxy for unrecorded organizational-capital intangibles. Major customers have higher operating profitability and profitability persistence, with the sources of the higher profitability consistent with purported advantages of supply chain arrangements. The pricing of major customers is consistent with the market recognizing the level and over-time properties of operating profitability. Together, these results suggest that investors understand the profitability effects of unrecorded organizational intangible assets and that financial statement analysis can be used to further examine the valuation effects of such intangibles.

We examine the revaluation of target security firms, their respective acquirers, both banks and non-banks, and their corresponding rivals before and after the major consolidation wave of 1994 to 1997. We find that target security firms as well as their respective acquirers are favorably revalued at the time of their acquisitions. The valuation effects are more favorable for non-bank acquirers and for acquirers with more growth potential and a lower degree of financial leverage. This suggests that investors expect greater synergies for mergers by better capitalized, faster growing, non-bank acquirers. In contrast to previous merger studies that generally find negative wealth effects for acquiring firms, cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) are on average positive for acquirers, targets, and portfolios of competing security firms, with the highest positive CARs for targets.

This paper reports the results of a study of the financial reporting effects of off-balance-sheet activities concealed by the equity method of accounting. The study examines footnote disclosures relating to equity method investees, offers suggestions for improving the usefulness of those disclosures, and estimates the valuation effects of information in the disclosures. An important empirical finding is that the market places significant negative values on investor-guaranteed off-balance-sheet obligations.

We examine the impact of initial public offerings (IPOs) on rival firms and find that the valuation effects are insignificant. This insignificant reaction can be explained by offsetting information and competitive effects. Significant positive information effects are associated with IPOs in regulated industries and the first IPO in an industry following a period of dormancy. Significant negative competitive effects are associated with larger IPOs in competitive industries, those in relatively risky industries, those in high-performing industries, and those in the technology sector. IPO firms that use the proceeds for debt repayment appear to represent a more significant competitive threat to rival firms relative to IPO firms that use their proceeds for other purposes.

We assess the pricing behavior of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) in response to information about their profitability. Specifically, we test for leakage effects and lagged effects, and we assess the cross-sectional variation in market inefficiencies related to profit warnings by foreign firms listed on U.S. stock exchanges as ADRs. Foreign firms experience strong negative valuation effects at the time of the profit warning. Furthermore, there are pronounced leakage effects, which suggests that some market participants were able to capitalize on inside information before the profit warnings were issued. We also find statistically significant evidence of a three-day lag effect following the profit warning, which suggests that investors who did not have inside information could profit from a warning. When using the leakage as a proxy, the degree of market inefficiency is more pronounced for firms in the technology sector, but the extent of government ownership or countries of origin are not significant ...

This paper examines the shareholder wealth effects associated with global equity offerings made by foreign firms after their initial cross-listing in the United States. We document that the market reaction to seasoned global equity offerings is economically and statistically insignificant. However, it is 1.5% larger than the market reaction to offerings made on local exchanges only. In addition, we find that the adverse market reaction to local equity offerings is mitigated as more capital is raised globally. Our findings support the hypothesis that global capital raising is associated with significant benefits.

As capital markets become integrated, the value of foreign listing and, consequently, the number of foreign listings should be expected to decline. The dramatic surge in foreign listings on US stock exchanges in recent years suggests that motivations and value of listing may also be changing as markets become increasingly globalized. We explore this issue by comparing both short- and long-run valuation effects of Canadian listings in the US in pre- and post-1990 periods. We document that the positive price and liquidity effects for Canadian stocks surrounding US listing have declined over time. The analysis of long-run performance, however, shows that Canadian firms list in the US after a strong market performance but underperform Canadian market indexes by 13–30% over the three years after the listing in both pre- and post-1990 periods. Further, the determinants of long-run performance appear to be significantly different from that in the short-run. Our evidence suggests that valuation effects of US listing may be driven by several factors, including liquidity and industry factors, that vary cross-sectionally and over time.

We empirically test the valuation effects of European M&A announcements on rivals within the target's country (intra-industry effects) and on other European rivals (inter-country effects), for the period of 1996 to 1999. We find evidence of inter-country effects that has not previously been documented, suggesting that the ongoin integration of European economies, supported by the introduction of the euro, facilitates the transmission of private information across country boundaries in Europe. We also conduct a cross-sectional analysis to isolate potential sources of intra-industry and inter-country effects. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A00DH017 00007

This study examines the relevance of exchange rate risk in the context of cross-border acquisitions. Using a sample of 156 foreign acquisitions of US firms, we find a reduction in exchange rate exposure following acquisition announcements. We also compare the valuation effects generated by a single-factor market model to those of a two-factor model that controls for the exchange rate effect. Our results show that, on average, abnormal returns generated by the two-factor model are significantly lower than those of the single-factor market model.