This paper analyzes the informational content of 3,365 Moody's credit rating reports, such as rating changes, watchlist announcements, and outlooks, and their impact on financial markets. We test whether the tone or the length of credit rating report have an immediate impact on the equity or...

The long-run performance of 424 UK rights issues during 1991-95 shows that issuers outperform the market and non-issuing peers in the pre-issue period and underperform in the post-issue period. To explain these results, we examine the timing and earnings management hypotheses and show that our...

Flexibility theory of capital structure, credit rationing, and stage-financing theory are consistent with many patterns of financing of entrepreneurial or small/medium size enterprises (SME). Tax theory of capital structure does not seem to play a significant role for SMEs as opposite to large...

In this paper we discuss the continued transition of financial markets towards trade standardization and the clearing of transactions, outlining the role of central clearing counterparties CCPs in reducing systemic and idiosyncratic risk. We contrast this with a discussion on bespoke non-cleared...

We analyze the reasons why companies issue units when they raise additional capital. We find that, in contrast to previous evidence, units are not offered to mitigate the agency conflicts or to signal security mispricing as they are predominantly issued during cold periods, in public rather than...

The case presents the initial public offering of shares by a rapidly growing firm. Students are asked to evaluate the attractiveness of investing in the company's shares from the investors' perspective

This paper studies the short- and long-run share price performance of firms that have gone public on the Euro New Markets (EuroNMs) since their foundation in 1996/97. The initial and long-run returns are remarkable in four ways. First, underpricing is on average 2-3 times higher than that on the...

The advent of the euro has eroded many of the barriers that segmented the European corporate bond market along currency lines and given rise to a unified market comparable in size to the one denominated in US dollars. In doing so, the new currency has made it easier for investment banks to...

The presence of both restricted and unrestricted, U.S.-style, bookbuilt IPOs in Hong Kong provides an ideal environment to test numerous underpricing models by simultaneously measuring the effects of allocation restrictions on the investment bankers' price discovery, underwriting, and...

As the world’s leading international financial centre, London faces fascinating opportunities and significant challenges in coming years as a result of Brexit, increased international competition from other global financial centres, and the changing face of finance itself. The City should...