Purpose – The paper aims to present an exchange ratio for merging companies that incorporates the change in the level of riskiness. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a theoretical one. Its main objective has been achieved exploiting standard modern finance results such as Capital...

We analyze holdings of public bonds by over 20,000 banks in 191 countries, and the role of these bonds in 20 sovereign defaults over 1998-2012. Banks hold many public bonds (on average 9% of their assets), particularly in less financially-developed countries. During sovereign defaults, banks...

We first analyse legal provisions relating to corporate transparency in Germany. We show that despite the new securities trading law (WpHG) of 1995, the practical efficacy of disclosure regulation is very low. On the one hand, the formation of business groups involving less regulated legal forms...

Corporate governance is one of the most topical and controversial areas of business and finance. This article provides an overview of the questions that it raises and proposed policy responses. It points to the diversity in systems of corporate governance around the world, the apparently...

The effectiveness of market discipline - the strong built-in incentives that encourage banks and financial systems to operate soundly and efficiently - commands much attention today, particularly in light of recent accounting scandals. As government discipline, in the form of regulation, seems...

We study how deregulation of corporate law affects the decision of entrepreneurs of where to incorporate. Recent rulings by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) have enabled entrepreneurs to select their country of incorporation independently of their real seat. We analyze foreign incorporations...