Datastream returns and UK open offers

We report a fundamental error in Datastream equity data for share prices and return indices relating to a failure to make any capital adjustments for UK open offers before February 2002. We re-examine the findings of Iqbal, Espenlaub, and Strong (2008), correcting for this error. We find that the short-run market reaction to open offers is now significantly positive. However, we confirm that long-run post-offer returns continue to be significantly negative up to a four-year horizon and, most importantly, that pre-issue discretionary current accruals predict the long-run underperformance, in support of the earnings management hypothesis. We continue to find no support for the timing hypothesis or the managerial response hypothesis.