This study investigates capital structure around 286 self-tender offers from 1980 to 1997. Firms that undertake self-tender offers generally have debt ratios below their predicted levels before the offers. The debt ratios following nondefensive self-tender offers are close to predicted levels,...

This study examines the effect of financial flexibility and the level and certainty of operating performance on the choice to change dividends, pay special dividends, and repurchase shares. Firms that increase payouts have excess financial flexibility and exhibit positive concurrent income...

This study investigates the excess funds hypothesis using samples of special dividends, regular dividend increases, and self-tender offers. All three types of firms tend to have funds in excess of industry norms before the events. The excess funds are largely nonrecurring for special dividend...

Change-in-control covenants first became commonplace towards the end of the takeover wave in the 1980s. We examine merger and acquisition activity from 1991 to 2006 to see how such covenant protection influences the wealth effects and probability of takeovers. Examining a sample of leveraged...