This paper investigates whether foreign institutional investors in emerging markets can enhance shareholder value. We pay special attention to two dimensions of investor heterogeneity: whether an investor declares itself as an activist, and whether an investor comes from a country with a strong...

In this study, we examine characteristics of Specified Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) used as a financing tool for companies from China in period 2004-2011. We offer the evidence that, similarly to evidence from studies on reverse mergers focusing on China, SPACs that focus on China are...

We study the impact of political institutions on foreign firms’ choice of their U.S. cross-listing venue. Using two measures of political institutions (an index of political rights and a political constraint index) and controlling for various firm-level and country-level characteristics, we...

We develop and test a model that investigates how controlling shareholders' expropriation incentives affect firm values during crisis and subsequent recovery periods. Consistent with the prediction of our model, we find that, during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Asian firms with weaker...

This paper examines the determinants of the choice of financial advisors and their impact on the announcement effects of US acquirers in cross-border M&As. Two hypotheses are tested: one pertains to the acquiring firms’ home preference in selecting financial advisors, and the other relates to...

This research analyzes the relations between highly concentrated ownership structures, corporate governance mechanisms and firm value for a sample of Latin American firms. With concentrated ownership, the conflict of interest shifts from the principal-agent problem to a dominant-minority...

In this cross-country analysis, we find evidence of a positive relation between creditor rights and the level of corporate cash holdings. In addition, we find that the excess cash motivated by creditor rights has a significant negative impact on firm value. These relationships, however, are...

Country-level institutional quality is positively correlated with the underpricing of initial public offerings (IPOs). The association is strong for IPOs issued in developed markets, but absent for emerging-market IPOs. We hypothesize that extra-legal institutions, including financial reporting...

The role of government shareholding in corporate performance is central to an understanding of China?s newly privatized large firms. In this paper, we analyze shareholders as agents that can both harm and benefit companies. We examine the ownership structure of 826 listed corporations and find...

This paper addresses the questions whether European mutual fund managers rely on sell-side analyst information and whether this behavior impacts fund performance. Results show that mutual funds significantly increase (decrease) their holdings in stocks when any of the consensus forecast measures...