Liquidating large security positions strategically: a pragmatic and empirical approach

This article investigates static liquidation strategies for large security positions in illiquid markets. Under the assumption that the liquidation horizon is given exogenously, a discretionary liquidity trader solves for the optimal sales trajectory so as to maximize an objective function that considers the expected liquidation revenues and their standard deviation. Although existing literature tends to focus on theoretical aspects with the intention of deriving closed-form solutions for special types of market impact functions, this article considers a framework that is able to capture important empirical phenomena in the stock market, such as the intraday U-shaped pattern of price impact and the resiliency of the order book. The new model is very flexible since it allows for liquidation intervals of varying length and foregoes the assumption of constant speed of trading. Examples with real-world order book data demonstrate how the setup can be implemented numerically and provide deeper insight into relevant properties of the model.     

OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE AND FIRM EXIT ROUTES

ABSTRACT

Our study presents empirical evidence about the role of ownership structure for firm exit probability by explicitly differentiating between distinct exit routes (bankruptcy and forced liquidation, voluntary liquidation, mergers and acquisitions – M&A, and removal from the court register). Based on the population of Slovenian firms in the 2006–2012 period and using multinomial probit, our findings support the predictions of agency theory. Ownership concentration, share of the largest owner, and the difference in shares between two largest owners all decrease the likelihood of exit for all studied exit routes but M&A. The magnitude of their impact is largest for exits, in which owners play a decisive role, i.e. voluntary liquidation and removal. The link between the number of primary owners and exit likelihood is U-shaped with the lowest exit probability for firms with around two owners.     

Balance sheet conservatism and audit reporting conservatism

Financial reports are prepared on a going‐concern (GC) basis rather than a liquidation basis even when companies are highly distressed. This allows distressed companies to report book values of assets that greatly exceed their liquidation values, implying a lack of conservatism in the balance sheet. We argue that auditors issue going‐concern opinions in order to warn investors about this lack of balance sheet conservatism. This argument leads to two testable hypotheses. First, for companies that are at risk of bankruptcy, auditors are more likely to issue GC opinions when the book values of assets under the GC assumption are high relative to the expected liquidation values of assets (i.e., when the GC assumption causes the balance sheet to lack conservatism). Second, for companies that enter bankruptcy, the issuance of a prior GC opinion has predictive information content with respect to the wedge between the book values of assets and the future liquidation values of those same assets. Our results strongly support both hypotheses. The findings are important because they indicate that conservative audit reporting helps to compensate for a lack of conservatism in the balance sheet, which arises because the GC assumption permits the book values of assets to exceed their liquidation values.     

富水粉细砂地层隧道综合降水设计与施工技术

本文通过对实例进行分析论述,解决了围岩受施工扰动和水长期浸润后开挖时不稳定问题,保证了隧道结构和施工安全,为同等或类似地质条件下的地下工程研究及施工提供借鉴和参考。     

Credit market frictions and political failure

We study how an excessively favorable regulatory environment for banks could arise even with a perfectly competitive credit market in a median voter world. In our occupational choice model with heterogeneous wealth endowments, market failure due to unobservability of entrepreneurial talent endogenously creates a misalignment between surplus maximizing reforms and reforms that are preferred by the median voter, who is a worker. This is in contrast to the world without market failure where the electorate unanimously vote in favor of surplus maximizing institutional reforms. This paper illustrates how market failure could lead to political failure even in the benchmark political system that is free from capture by interest groups.     

A sectoral analysis of the financial instability hypothesis

Hyman Minsky's Financial Instability Hypothesis (FIH) is applied to various North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) industry groups, and it is found that some sectors develop much more closely in accordance with the FIH than others. Minsky categorized firms based on the relationship between cash flow and debt service requirements: hedge finance units, whose operating revenues are adequate to service current interest and principal on their debt; speculative finance units, which can meet interest payments but cannot pay down principal; and Ponzi finance units, which cannot meet current interest payments. The FIH is related to, as well as supportive of, Austrian Business Cycle (ABC) theory, because interest rates are negatively correlated with the proportion and market value of speculative firms in several sectors.     

Privatizing Poland's Economy

No abstract available for this article.     

中国银企不良资产清算分析

从企业管理者、股东和债权人之间的利益分配关系看，目前我国还没有建立起一个以债权人为主导的企业筛选机制。建立和完善企业筛选制度，不仅是我国市场化进程中的一个重要环节．是实现资源市场化配置的必然渠道，而且是不良资产清算的制度保证：不良资产的多样化出售的目的主要是最大限度地以最高价格出售不良资产，为此需要在信用增级、公开操作原则、间接出售方式和完善的市场环境支持出售等各个环节上进行创新：“债转股”是常规不良资产清算手段难以奏效而破产清盘损失又太大时债务重组的最后一招．中国是典型的“政策型”债转股，并因此而生成了不少实施风险。中国的债转股要取得成功．一要建立健全资产管理公司的激励和约束机制，二要全力提高资产管理公司的能力．使其有动力也有能力高效率地完成任务。     

Risk aversion and the dynamics of optimal liquidation strategies in illiquid markets

We consider the infinite-horizon optimal portfolio liquidation problem for a von Neumann–Morgenstern investor in the liquidity model of Almgren (Appl. Math. Finance 10:1–18, 2003). Using a stochastic control approach, we characterize the value function and the optimal strategy as classical solutions of nonlinear parabolic partial differential equations. We furthermore analyze the sensitivities of the value function and the optimal strategy with respect to the various model parameters. In particular, we find that the optimal strategy is aggressive or passive in-the-money, respectively, if and only if the utility function displays increasing or decreasing risk aversion. Surprisingly, only few further monotonicity relations exist with respect to the other parameters. We point out in particular that the speed by which the remaining asset position is sold can be decreasing in the size of the position but increasing in the liquidity price impact.      

保险公司破产的国际经验与借鉴

本文结合国外保险公司破产的具体案例,综合分析了保险公司破产的原因,这些原因既有保险公司内部的原因,也有外部的竞争和经济环境因素,而这些破产的历史教训是预防保险公司破产、及时甄别出有破产风险保险公司的宝贵经验。本文还介绍了英国、美国和日本的保险监管措施,以及RBC、IR IS、FAST、动态财务分析四种偿付能力监管系统。最后总结了国外保险公司破产对我国的启示。