This paper analyzes the law and economics of insider trading in the context of takeover bids, focusing on the European regulatory framework. We distinguish between trading by the bidder, by the target and by classical insiders and first address the issue of precisely when information about...

This paper contains the European Company Law Experts' response to the report of the European Commission of 28 June 2012 on the application of the Takeover Bids Directive of 2004 and the reform initiatives announced. For evaluating these initiatives the rationale of the mandatory bid rule is...

Acquirers paying with shares exhibit significantly lower announcement returns (Andrade et al. (2001)). Further, cash-rich firms tend to make value-decreasing acquisitions due to possible agency conflicts between managers and owners (Harford (1999)). I investigate the interaction effects of...

Core institutions of UK corporate governance, in particular those relating to takeovers, board structure and directors' duties, are strongly orientated towards a norm of shareholder primacy. Beyond the core, in particular at the intersection of insolvency and employment law, stakeholder...

We construct a dynamic takeover law index using hand-collected data on legal provisions and empirically examine the effect of takeover regulation to protect shareholders on shareholder wealth for bidders and targets in a multi-country setting. We find that a stricter takeover law increases the...

In 1970, France introduced disclosure rules governing public tender offers without changing an existing four-week minimum offer period. We document a substantial increase in total offer premiums thereafter. Post-1970 premiums are also significantly higher in public than in private tender offers...

Takeover defenses have long been a topic of considerable interest to scholars of finance and corporate law. Yet the significant amount of attention that researchers have lavished on the topic have produced surprisingly little scholarly consensus. This chapter considers a number of major topics...

This paper sheds light on a structural problem affecting all M&A laws: deals are complex and unique, while the law is general. In particular, target companies have a particular ownership structure that must fit the paradigm contemplated by the law, which in the European Union consists almost...

Exploiting a hand-collected database with almost 2200 firms during 1996-2014, I analyze the relationship between the presence of poison pills and firm value. Consistent with earlier results, I document a strong negative association between pills and firm value cross-sectionally and within firm....