Using a sample of 2477 privatizations from 108 countries that raised $1.2 trillion between 1977 and 2000, we analyze the choice between raising funds in public versus private capital markets. This choice is influenced by capital market, political, and firm-specific factors. Share issue...

We argue that management sells assets when doing so provides the cheapest funds to pursue its objectives rather than for operating efficiency reasons alone. This hypothesis suggests that (1) firms selling assets have high leverage and/or poor performance, and (2) the stock market discounts asset...

This article has two related tasks. First, we review the articles published in this Special Issue on Corporate Control, Mergers, and Acquisitions. These articles provide new evidence on several aspects of corporate control and governance including the value and performance effects of various...

We show that acquirer returns are significantly higher in stock-swap acquisitions of difficult-to-value targets, as measured by Ramp;D intensity and idiosyncratic return volatility. This finding contributes to an explanation of the determinants of, and value gains from, using stock as a method...

We examine shareholder voting on management-sponsored compensation proposals from 1992 through 2003 to determine how voting has evolved as a result of changes in the corporate governance environment. We investigate three questions: have regulatory changes and changes in investor sentiment...

This paper analyzes the performance and balance-sheet characteristics of banks in post-war Lebanon for the years 1993 to 2000. Although we find that Lebanese banks are profitable, most of them had accounting return on assets (ROA) greater than one percent over most of our test period, they are...

Although financial instruments that, in effect, permit corporations to treat preferred stock dividends as tax-deductible interest have been used by nonfinancial corporations since late 1993, bank holding companies (BHCs) did not issue these trust-preferred securities (TPS) until 1996, when the...

Bank Capital Structure, Regulatory Capital, and Securities' Innovations Abstract Although financial instruments that, in effect, permit corporations to treat preferred stock dividends as tax-deductible interest have been used by nonfinancial corporations since late 1993, bank holding companies...