We consider a two-stage principal-agent model with limited liability in which a CEO is employed as agent to gather information about suitable merger targets and to manage the merged corporation in case of an acquisition. Our results show that the CEO systematically recommends targets with low...

This paper analyzes the effects of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) on the innovation of European firms. The results indicate a considerable increase in post-acquisition innovation in the merged entity. This is mainly driven by inventors based in the acquirer's country, while...

This paper analyzes the role of corporate culture in the financial industry. Theoretical literature emphasizes the role of corporate culture in the sorting process of workers into firms. We take this argument to the empirics and analyze whether banks that differ in their corporate culture use...

Ownership takeovers often follow complex strategies where the control of the target firm is acquired through a sequence of independent contracts. We study the role of capital gain taxes on the contract structure and on the method of finance of merger and acquisitions (M&As). We find that capital...

This paper analyzes the governance and performance of firms which, according to simplistic agency theory, should not be viable. These firms are fully or partially owned by a foundation which itself is not owned by natural or legal persons. Therefore, residual claimholders have restricted or no...

Private equity companies have become a major force in the economic landscape. Financial- and operational-engineering are innovative characteristics of this emerging method of finance. The existing empirical data provide strong evidence that private equity activity contribute positively to the...

This paper addresses the question of how the timing of corporate insider trading is related to the level of information asymmetry in a stock price. Our empirical analysis shows that, when buying their firm's shares, corporate insiders are likely to exploit their informational advantage through...

In this paper, we analyse whether bank owners or bank managers were the driving force behind the risks incurred in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007/2008. We show that owner controlled banks had higher profits in the years before the crisis, and incurred larger losses and were more likely...

This paper provides empirical evidence on the relationship between cross-border acquisitions and innovation activities of the acquirer. For the empirical analysis a unique firm-level data set is constructed that combines survey data for German firms with a merger and acquisition database. After...

It is widely recognized that most economic activities show a tendency to agglomerate in space and, therefore, economic interactions among firms are likely to be influenced by their geographical proximity. Recently, the literature (Boschma, 2005) has remarked that other dimensions of proximity...