We study strategic initiation of auctions by potential buyers and the seller. This problem arises in auctions of companies and asset sales, among other contexts. The bidder's decision to approach the seller reveals that her valuation is sufficiently high. In common-value auctions, such as...

This paper analyses the efficiency of the Texas shootout and ½-auction partnership dissolution mechanisms when one of the partners has a chance to observe the other partner's valuation. The efficiency of the Texas shootout mechanism positively depends on the probability of such observation...

We present unique empirical tests for overbidding using data from Sweden's auction bankruptcy system. The main creditor (a bank) can neither bid in the auction nor refuse to sell in order to support a minimum price. We argue that the bank may increase its expected revenue by financing a bidder...

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 develop a two-sided asymmetric information model of asset sales that incorporates the key differences from mergers and allows the information held by each party to be impounded in the transaction. Buyer information is conveyed through a first-stage competitive auction. A seller with...

We model takeovers as a bargaining process and explain termination fees for, both, the target and the acquirer, subject to parties' bargaining power and outside options. In equilibrium, termination fees are offered by firms with outside options in exchange for a greater share of merger...

This study examines the emergence of the Bulgarian stock market and the role of controlling blockholders. A new approach using mass privatization auction data measures the premium for control and demonstrates that, in the absence of legal constraints, majority owners extract more than 85% of...

A number of proposals for reforming Chapter 11 suggest that a mandatory cash auction of the bankrupt firm would lead to more efficient investment outcomes than a reorganization based system. However, recent empirical work describing reorganizations in European countries which mandate the sale of...

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...

We study how common ownership among potential acquirers influences the firm selling process. We find that, when potential acquirers share a common owner, the target firm is more likely to be sold through auction rather than negotiation with a single acquirer. The presence of common owner does...