We investigate the stock price performance of companies that become a block trade target in China where unique institutional characteristics exist. As with US evidence, stock prices of target companies positively react to the announcement of block trades. The positive effect of block trades...

Previous studies offer evidence that foreign investors invest less money in countries or firms with weak corporate governance structures (Aggarwal et al. 2005; Dahlquist et al. 2003; Kim et al. 2010; Leuz et al. 2009). Investigating Japanese companies that go public during the 1997-2002 period, we find that...

Recently in Japan, the Banks' Shareholdings Restriction Law requires that banks substantially decrease shareholdings. This study examines firms that experienced a 5% or greater reduction in percentage ownership by banks for a year during 2001–2004. Results show that those firms improve their...

We investigate dividend smoothing behaviors of approximately 6,000 firms from 28 countries. The data find a wide variation in the extent of dividend smoothing across countries, while US firms smooth dividends the most. Firms with a concentrated ownership structure adjust their dividends quickly,...