We document pervasive informed trading activity in equity options before M&A announcements. About 25% of takeovers have positive abnormal volumes. These volume patterns indicate that informed traders are likely using bullish directional strategies for the target and volatility strategies for the...

This paper studies the market-level effects of litigation rights in an imperfectly competitive capital market with a market maker, an information-acquiring investor, and liquidity traders. Litigation rights have the following equilibrium effects. (i) The investor acquires more private...

Due to judicial decisions the stock market prices are deemed to be the lower value limit in determining the compensations within structural measures according to German stock corporation law (e.g. squeeze-out of minority stockholders). By applying other valuation methods, in particular the...

In this paper we note that unrelated research in the management and finance fields, if combined, makes predictions concerning board reforms in emerging countries. Specifically, outside directors' demographic characteristics that are salient to foreign investors should reduce stock price...

This paper examines the relationship between firm size, sovereign governance, and value-creation in acquisitions. The takeover literature suggests that size can enable managerial entrenchment and value-destruction. However, in weak governance environments, size might have off-setting benefits,...

We examine the capital market consequences of a regulatory intervention aimed at generalizing tenure voting in French public companies. The 2014 Florange Act departs from the ‘one share one vote' principle by automatically granting double voting rights (DVR) to shares held for at least two...

The debate over whether dual class of shares increases or decreases share value, should be prohibited or not, should be subjected to mandatory sunset provisions, and so on has been heating up over the last few years. This paper reviews the pros and cons of dual class of shares in light of more...

This paper employs a natural experiment research design to analyze the differences in the effects of the 2002 notice concerning private securities litigation issued by the Supreme People's Court on stock price performance in A/B-share markets. Using a sample of 162 twin A/B-shares issued by 81...

We study the economic consequences of a recent securities regulation that grants U.S. regulators broad new powers to revise or reject foreign acquisitions of firms deemed critical to U.S. national security. Our results document an important tradeoff between U.S. national security and shareholder...