Leveraged buyouts allow for a separate identification of sponsor reputation and underlying firm quality and their effects on capital structure choices. In 616 U.S. LBOs for which we can reconstruct financing activity, we find that the average LBO issues an average of 1.16 additional debt...

In the dual model, the surplus of a company is a Levy process with sample paths that are skip-free downwards. In this paper, the aggregate gains process is the sum of a shifted compound Poisson process and an independent Wiener process. By means of Laplace transforms, it is shown how the...

The existing replication policies at top finance journals are far weaker than the policies at top economics journals. This paper explores both the costs and benefits of having a stronger replication policy in the context of my failed 2010 initiative to develop a unified policy across all top...

We examine whether governance matters for acquisitions. Acquisitions are frequently beneficial to the CEO of the acquiring firm, but can often be value-destructive to acquirer shareholders and other stakeholders such as employees. We find that corporate governance does not appear to influence...

We survey 79 private equity (PE) investors with combined assets under management of more than $750 billion about their practices in firm valuation, capital structure, governance, and value creation. Investors rely primarily on internal rates of return and multiples to evaluate investments. Their...

A common method of valuing the equity in highly leveraged transactions is the flows-to-equity method. When applying this method various formulas can be used to calculate the time-varying cost of equity. In this paper we show that some commonly used formulas are inconsistent with the assumptions...

This paper analyzes the role of intermediation in the market for corporate control (mergers and acquisitions). I argue that given the decentralized nature of such market, financial intermediaries might help alleviating search frictions. A potential acquirer can search for acquisition targets...

The flows-to-equity method is often used to value highly leveraged projects, or transactions, where debt typically amortises over time according to a fixed schedule. This requires a formula that links the changing leverage over time with a time-varying equity discount rate. We show that the...

We review the literature on the sources of financing and associated financing frictions facing small firms. Using data from the Survey of Business Owners, we first show that about half of small firms do not report using any external finance either for startup or for expansion. Among those that...

We investigate how transient institutional ownership influences the level and value of cash holdings. We show that transient institutional ownership has a positive effect on cash holdings, and this linkage is more pronounced when stock and credit market conditions are less favorable. Using a...