This paper examines the relationship between the board structure of UK firms and the accuracy of individual analysts’ earnings forecasts with respect to information asymmetry and agency theory. We hypothesize that managers of firms complying with the recommendations of The Code of Best Practice may have “less to hide” and, subsequently, provide more information to outsiders (including analysts)...

Methodologically, this paper frames the opportunity cost of any merger as the value of the alternative deals it precludes or defers. This challenges the standard eventstudy hypothesis that stock markets benchmark the value of a merger deal by the profits the partners would have earned in stand-alone activity. Substantively, the paper finds that megamergers in banking show two size-related excep...

This paper examines the employment effects of acquisitions for acquired European firms taking non-random selection of acquisition targets explicitly into account. Following the empirical firm growth literature and theories put forward in the mergers and acquisition (M&A) literature we control for convergence dynamics in firm size and distinguish between different types of acquisitions. Empirica...

This paper analyzes the wealth and risk incentive effects of managerial options and shareholdings on the hedging probability of UK listed Alternative Investment Market (AIM) companies. We find that the wealth incentive effect provided by managerial option holdings increases the hedging likelihood. On the contrary, the wealth incentive effect provided by managerial shareholdings decreases the he...

We study the dynamics of market entry following mergers and acquisitions (M&As), and the behavior of recent entrants in supplying output that might be withdrawn by the consolidating firms. The data, drawn from the banking industry, suggest that M&As are associated with subsequent increases in the probability of entry. The estimates suggest that M&As explain more than 20% of entry in metropolita...

In contexts where banks have strong control over firms, banking crisis may be associated with merger activity. This is because banks’ risk is reduced when their clients merge, and financial trouble creates strong incentive for banks to facilitate mergers of clients to improve banks’ risk standing. During Japan’s banking crisis in the 1990s, corporate merger activity was correlated with banks’ f...

This article develops a real options model to study the interaction of industry structure and takeovers. In an asymmetric industry equilibrium, firms have an endogenous incentive to merge when restructuring decisions are motivated by operating and strategic benefits. The model predicts that (i) merger activities are more likely in more concentrated industries or in industries that are more expo...

We present an agent-based model of endogenous merger formation in a market with turnover of market participants. We describe the dynamics of the model and identify the conditions under which market competition is sufficiently disrupted to prompt extended periods during which mergers are desirable. We also demonstrate how merger waves can be triggered by industry shocks and firm overconfidence. ...

During the month of June, 2003, the Naval Research Laboratory conducted a series of coherence experiments in shallow water (approximately 9 meters) off Panama City Beach, Florida. Examined here are preliminary mid frequency (1 10 kHz) results of analyzed temporal coherence data. For this experiment, a G34 omnidirectional source, mounted approximately 2.7 meters from the bottom, ensonified a ver...

This paper examines the market’s reaction to news of corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&A) by Japanese bidders during the 1990s. Domestic versus global bids and pro-M&A legislation are considered as determinants of bidders’ abnormal returns. The results show that bidders for domestic targets earn significant abnormal returns after the institutions of pro-M&A legislation in Japan. These findi...