This paper extends the literature on corporate governance by analyzing the voluntary use of special committees during corporate takeovers. These committees are comprised of disinterested target firm directors and serve as an additional mechanism to enhance the oversight of potential conflicts....

This paper extends the corporate governance literature such as Alchian and Demsetz (1972) by analyzing the use of special committees of disinterested directors by target firms during corporate takeovers. Our sample spans post Sarbanes-Oxley from 2003 through 2007, under which boards of directors...

We provide new evidence on termination provisions and the takeover bidding process. Our central contribution is a novel database from Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents that accurately measures the incidence of termination provisions and the depth of competition in takeover...

As measured by the number of bidders that publicly attempt to acquire a target, the takeover arena in the 1990s was not competitive. However, we develop a new measure competition based on the pre-public, private takeover process that indicates that public takeover activity is only the tip of the...

We study 298 firms that announce the intent to consider restructuring during the 1989 to 1998 period. We find that the actions taken subsequent to the initial restructuring consideration are equally divided between (i) being acquired, (ii) divesting one or more subsidiaries, or (iii) either...

We study the process of corporate restructuring for a sample of 298 firms during the 1989-98 period that announce that they are considering restructuring alternatives. We find that restructuring is a lengthy process, with the majority of the restructuring period occurring prior to any definitive...

We study the acquisition and divestiture activity of a sample of 1,305 firms from 59 industries during the 1990-99 period. Consistent with the importance of restructuring activity during the 1990s, we find that half of the sample firms are acquired or engage in a major divestiture. Consistent...

We study 298 firms that announce the intent to consider restructuring during the 1989 to 1998 period. We find that the actions taken subsequent to the initial restructuring consideration are equally divided between (i) being acquired, (ii) divesting one or more subsidiaries, or (iii) either...

As measured by the number of bidders that publicly attempt to acquire a target, the takeover arena in the 1990s appears noncompetitive. However, we provide novel data on the pre-public, private takeover process that indicates that public takeover activity is only the tip of the iceberg of actual...