The internal rate of return (IRR) is still a widespread criterion for investment decisions, although many pitfalls are well known. This paper provides evidence for another, more fundamental, dark side of IRR: Based on a dynamic model of optimal capital structure with endogenous bankruptcy...

We study the certification role of fairness opinions in corporate transactions in a simple non-cooperative setting with asymmetric information and possibly misaligned managerial incentives, and discuss the effect of different regulatory scenarios. Specifically, we compare three settings: one in...

Secondary buyouts (SBOs) can be viewed as an oxymoron: Booming SBO activity meets public and investor´s perception of this investments as “lemons”, claiming that first round buyers in the primary buyout (PBO) leave no potential for further value creation on the table. Using a unique back to...

Rating affects corporate credit costs and leverage choices. Therefore, we develop a corporate valuation model where the choice of leverage is consistent with the implied cost of debt of the rating class. We explicitly model the trigger, the consequences, and the analytical probability of...

Based on an example Loeffler claims in a recent FINANZ BETRIEB-article that the application of the Miles/Ezzell-WACC may offer arbitrage opportunities. He concludes that the Miles/Ezzell-WACC is not applicable without restrictions. We discuss the example of Louml;ffler and show that either (a)...

The German corporate governance system changed substantially over the last ten years. Meanwhile, ownership structures of German firms changed significantly. We examine the phenomenon of changing ownership structures by studying blockholdings of German large caps between 1997 and 2006. We examine...

Conglomerate discounts or premia are derived by comparing market values of conglomerates with the market values of a matched portfolio of stand alone firms (the imputed value of the conglomerates). Usually this comparison is based on firm values. We show that in this case conglomerate discounts...

This paper investigates the development of earnings quality for a sample of 5,817 firm years during the period between 1997 and 2006 using seven different measures (accounting- and market-based). As a result, overall earnings quality of German firms improves over time. However, the measures of...

In this paper we aim to verify the existence of costs of financial distress (cfd) for a sample of German CDAX firms using an ex-post approach originally due to Opler/Titman (1994). In contrast to this US-based study we do not find a significant interaction between high leverage and distress for...