This paper studies the ability of security-level contracts to substitute for poor country-level investor protections. Using a cross-country sample of restrictive covenants, we find that bond contacts are more likely to include covenants when creditor protection laws are weak. Further, the use of...

We examine motives to sell private firms and provide insights into the sources of value creation from acquisitions of private targets. Using a novel dataset, we document that less profitable, highly leveraged private firms that tend to underinvest are likely to be sold. Further, these firms...

We examine motives to sell private firms and provide insights into the sources of value creation from acquisitions of private targets. Using a novel dataset, we document that less profitable, highly leveraged private firms that tend to underinvest are likely to be sold. Further, these firms...

We compare investment policies across public and private firms in different institutional settings. Using a large cross-country dataset, we find that public listed firms are better positioned to take advantage of growth opportunities than private firms. Specifically, public listed firms exhibit...

We study the impact of Dead Hand Proxy Puts on shareholder value. Courts and commentators have characterized these terms as defenses against hedge fund activism that threaten to reduce firm value by entrenching underperforming managers and thereby increasing managerial agency costs. Our findings...

We examine a link between a bond ETF and the underlying bond market liquidity. Using daily creation and redemption data for the HYG ETF, we find that including a bond on the HYG ETF’s creation or redemption lists has a favorable impact on the bond’s liquidity. This impact is stronger on...

We find that the strength of countries' legal institutions can explain the ability of private firms to identify and terminate poorly performing managers. This finding is consistent with our hypothesis that governance problems in private firms are ameliorated by strong institutions that reduce...

This paper investigates the question of whether bond ratings serve as a basis for market prices of bonds or whether investors use their own research and view the ratings only as rough guidelines. Unlike previous work, which focused on rating changes, this paper uses a new data base to consider...

Corporations seem to issue much more senior than subordinated debt and ratings agencies seem to treat these two types of bonds very differently. We document and explore these differences between senior and subordinated debt. Unlike previous work which focused on rating changes, this paper...

Better legal protection of investors in a country is a central theme of international corporate governance research. However, investor protections can be derived not only from legal rights provided by countries' laws but also from rights attached to individual securities at the issuer's...