This Article examines the market reaction to a series of legal events concerning thejudicial interpretation of the pari passu clause in sovereign debt instruments.1 Moregenerally, the Article provides insights into the reactions of investors (predominantlyfinancial institutions), issuers...

This paper documents frequent attempts by activist arbitrageurs to open-end discounted closed-end funds, particularly after the 1992 proxy reform which reduced the costs of communication among shareholders. Open-ending attempts have a substantial effect on discounts, reducing them, on average,...

The claim that lawyers act as gatekeepers or certifiers in financial transactions is widely discussed in the legal literature. There has, however, been little empirical examination of the claim. In this article, we test the hypothesis that law firms have replaced investment banks as the...

One of the primary policy initiatives instituted in response to the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis is a requirement that all Eurozone sovereign bonds issued after January 1, 2013 include provisions referred to as Collective Action Clauses or CACs. These CACs are intended to enable an orderly...

We find that firms that provide limited liability and indemnification for their directors enjoy higher credit ratings and lower yield spreads. We argue that such provisions insulate corporate directors from the discipline from potential litigation, and allow them to pursue their own interests by...

We examine the characteristics, strategies, and performance of acquirers in 12,476 completed US acquisitions. We document that a portfolio of acquiring firms significantly outperformed market benchmarks during the 1990s, and that frequent acquirers outperformed infrequent acquirers. This...

We analyze the effects of changes in the purpose of large German corporations from stakeholder-oriented organizations to shareholder-oriented organizations during the decade of the 1990s. We document this transformation by first examining the annual reports of large firms at strategic points in...

A critical question faced by any sovereign seeking to raise funds in the bond market is whether to issue the debt under foreign or local parameters. This choice determines other key characteristics of any bond issue such as which banks, lawyers, and investors will be involved. Most important...

Using the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the associated change in listing standards as a natural experiment, we find that while board independence decreases the cost of debt when credit conditions are strong or leverage low, it increases the cost of debt when credit conditions are poor or...

A sovereign seeking to raise funds in the bond market may choose to issue the debt under either local or foreign parameters. This decision involves a tradeoff between the sovereign retaining discretion in managing the issue on the one hand and relinquishing control of the issue to third parties...