On 24 January 2019, a revised Singapore Code on Take-overs and Mergers (the Take-overs Code) was promulgated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on the advice of the Securities Industry Council (the SIC).The revisions are to ensure that takeover practices targeting at companies with the...

We find that the threat of takeover has a negative relation with default risk. The result is robust to alternative estimation methods, different measures of default, exclusion of the financial crisis period and over a number of sub-periods. We identify improvement in performance and earnings...

We examine the implications of enhanced managerial control afforded by state anti-takeover laws for tax avoidance and find the strength of anti-takeover statutes in a state is negatively related to tax avoidance of firms incorporated in that state. In testing underlying mechanisms, we find that...

Many companies continue to go public with takeover defenses even though institutional investors zealously oppose defenses in public companies. In this Article, I analyze the determinants of takeover defenses at IPO firms using an empirical analysis of 259 IPOs from 2008-12, interviews with...

This article examines the Proper Purpose Rule and the Exercise of Directors' Power in the recent JKX case as decided by the UK Supreme court. The decision of the JKX case now represents the leading Common law authority on the interpretation and application of the Proper Purpose Rule (the Rule or...

Meeks and Meeks (2022, MM for short)* has a question in its subtitle, Why spend ever more on mergers when so many fail? There are three interwoven strands in the book’s answer:First, contracts (explicit and implicit) often reward key players in the M&A market — executives and advisers —...

Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) are simply enterprises that raise money from the public with the intention of purchasing an existing business and become publicly-traded in the securities markets. If the SPAC is successful in raising money and the acquisition takes place, the target...

The evolution of the Chinese takeover market and its integration with the international takeover market are analysed in three ways. First, the paper charts the legal and institutional changes in China in the last two decades to develop a decentralised “Anglo-Saxon” takeover market. Second,...

This paper tests a theory conjecturing that cross-listing can insulate firms from potential hostile takeovers owing to the increased cost concern of bidders. We find a significant and positive relation between the corporate control threat and the likelihood that firms cross-list in a foreign...