The Choice Between Spin-offs and Sell-offs

Spin-offs and sell-offs are alternative methods for divesting assets, but the effects on the parent firm differ substantially. We examine firms' characteristics that may influence the asset divestiture choice between a spin-off and sell-off. Results of the analysis indicate that the primary factors influencing the choice of divestiture type are financial distress, number of directors on the board, whether the CEO is also the Board Chair, and the size of the unit divested.     

资本结构、产权结构与公司治理

资本结构也就是财产所有权的结构安排,而财产所有权往往最终与收益权对应,所以资本结构又牵系着产权安排,或者说资本结构决定了产权安排结构。这样作为股权资本与债券资本比例关系的资本结构,反映的是市场经济条件下企业的金融关系,即以资本和信用为纽带,通过投资与借贷构成的股东、债权人和经营者之间相互制约的利益关系。     

Excess Control, Corporate Governance and Implied Cost of Equity: International Evidence

We investigate whether the separation between ownership and control rights can be costly to controlling shareholders and firms in terms of capital-raising costs. Using estimates of the cost of equity capital implied by analyst earnings forecasts and growth rate for a sample of 1,207 firms from nine Asian and 13 Western European countries, we find strong, robust evidence that the cost of equity is increasing in excess control, while controlling for other firm-level characteristics. This core finding persists after controlling for legal institutions variables.     

Conditional Equity Premium and Aggregate Corporate Investment

We document a strong negative relation between aggregate corporate investment and conditional equity premium estimated from direct stock market risk measures. Consistent with the investment-based asset pricing model, the comovement with conditional equity premium fully accounts for aggregate investment's market return predictive power. Similarly, conditional equity premium is a significant determinant of classic Tobin's q measure, although q has much weaker explanatory power for aggregate investment possibly because of its measurement errors. Moreover, the positive relation between aggregate investment and investor sentiment documented in previous studies reflects the fact that both variables correlate closely with conditional equity premium.     

股权再融资与企业现金分红

股权再融资往往意味着企业存在大量的融资需求,而实践中普遍存在的股权再融资后立即现金分红的现象有悖于募集资金的优序使用原则。基于此,本文从管理层自利视角出发,在对企业股权再融资后现金分红的行为偏好检验的基础上,进一步选取管理层薪酬增长率和企业股权质押活动作为管理层自利程度的代理变量,探索企业股权再融资后现金分红倾向的边界条件,为该行为背后的代理动机提供证明。基于2007~2017年所有A股上市公司样本,研究发现,企业的确存在股权再融资后立即现金分红的行为倾向;而较低的管理层薪酬增长率和企业股权质押活动会加剧企业股权融资对现金分红的促进作用。进一步研究发现,企业股权再融资活动会给现金分红带来消极的市场反应。上述研究结果表明,管理层自利是股权再融资的重要推动因素,而这一行为会给企业利益造成损害。     

The Performance Consequences of Operational Restructurings

This study provides new evidence on the long-term performance effects of operational restructurings. While managers claim that restructurings increase the efficiency and profitability of companies, prior studies using accounting data have reached mixed conclusions regarding the post-restructuring operational effectiveness of these events. Using metrics that provide control for firm and industry performance in the absence of restructuring, and examining a time horizon extending five years subsequent to the restructuring, our results are not consistent with an improvement in operating performance resulting from restructuring after controlling for ex ante expectations of firm and industry performance. JEL Classification: G340, M410     

Quality of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure and Cost of Equity Capital: Lessons from China

This article explores the relationship between the quality of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure and the cost of equity capital by analyzing the financial data and CSR reports of A-share listed firms in China from 2008 to 2014. The quality of the CSR disclosure is shown to be negatively related to the cost of equity capital of the listed firms. This negative correlation proves to be more prominent among firms of environmentally sensitive industries. Taking the ownership of the listed firms into consideration, it is further confirmed that the negative relationship between the CSR disclosure and the cost of equity capital is of higher significance for state-owned enterprises. Our findings also empirically demonstrate that the quality of CSR disclosure is more negatively related to the cost of equity capital among the large listed firms than the smaller ones.     

公司声誉、审计师声誉与权益资本成本——基于中国民营上市公司的经验证据

以2009~2013年中国沪深两市 A 股民营上市公司为样本,实证检验审计师声誉、公司声誉与权益资本成本的关系。研究发现：限制其他条件,审计师声誉、公司声誉分别与公司权益资本成本呈显著负相关。进一步研究发现,随着公司自身声誉的逐步建立,审计师声誉对于公司权益资本成本的影响将会逐渐减弱,公司声誉对于审计师声誉具有替代作用。     

股权激励对上市公司的影响及投资策略分析

本文探讨了我国上市公司实施股权激励的环境条件，分析了股权激励对管理层、股东影响的内在机制，分析了实施股权激励对上市公司价值和业绩的影响。对股权激励类上市公司上涨因素的定量化分析显示，其上涨与公司现有的各项财务指标没有必然联系，而与公司的市场地位、行业发展趋势和关联交易之间存在明显的关系。本文认为，我国上市公司已基本具备实施股权激励的环境条件，实施股权激励有利于解决管理层和股东利益一致性问题，通过价值转移和价值创造，持续、有效地促进上市公司价值和业绩的提高，从而有效推动上市公司股价的上升，给投资者以强有力的信心和巨大的投资机会。     

Corporate Sales, Equity Trading, and Risk

This paper proposes and investigates an explanation for a positive association between the signed value of common share returns and trading activity. The mixture of distributions model for stock returns and trading is applied with the added assumption that product sales for a firm is the directing process which generates the flow of information to equity markets. Because trading depends upon information arrival, sales and trading are positively related. Also, because contribution margin is positive, cash flows increase with sales. Dependence of both cash flows and trading on sales implies that returns and trading are also positively related. This explanation is tested in this paper.     

Corporate Hedging Policy and Equity Mispricing

We show that firms’ use of derivatives is negatively associated with stock mispricing. This result is consistent with the notion that hedging improves the transparency and predictability of firms’ cash flows resulting in less misvaluation. Furthermore, we show that the negative relationship between mispricing and hedging is particularly strong when market value is below fundamental value, which is consistent with prior evidence that hedging has a positive impact on firm valuation. Finally, we provide evidence that a “spread‐out” hedging policy that entails the use of a variety of derivative contracts can be more effective in reducing mispricing.     

Line-of-Business Disclosures and Spin-Off Announcement Returns

We investigated disclosure decisions by identifying a circumstance, the spin-off of a segment, where the benefits of disclosure should outweigh the costs. We compared the valuation revisions associated with spin-off announcements of firms with previous line of business disclosures to valuation revisions of firms making spin-off announcements without these disclosures. We found significant stock price increases associated with the spin-off announcement regardless of prior segment disclosure history. We also found, however, that the stock price increases were temporary for firms without prior segment disclosures, while the valuation revisions for firms with previous line-of-business disclosure information persisted.Data Availability: The data employed in this study are available from the sources identified in the text.     

Equity Issuance,CEO Turnover and Corporate Governance

There is substantial evidence on the effect of external market discipline on chief executive turnover decisions in poorly performing companies. In this study we present evidence on the role of institutional monitoring in these decisions through the equity issuance process. We find that firms which undertake equity offerings are associated with an increased rate of forced CEO turnover that is focused on the managers of poorly performing companies. At the same time, equity offerings increase the likelihood of a new CEO being appointed from outside the current management team. We also provide evidence that independent boards are more likely to forcibly remove CEOs from their position, although this is not conditional on poor performance.     

A Comparison of Cost of Equity Estimates of Local and Global CAPMs

Cost of equity estimates are compared for three pricing models: the traditional local CAPM, the single (market) factor global CAPM, and the two‐factor global CAPM, with both market and currency index factors. For 2989 US stocks, the average difference in the cost of equity estimates is about 48 basis points between the local CAPM and the single‐factor global CAPM, and is about 61 basis points between the two global models. For 70 developed‐market ADRs, the corresponding average differences are 76 and 47 basis points, respectively. For 48 emerging‐market ADRs, the corresponding average differences are 57 and 70 basis points.     

我国上市公司股权集中度影响因素分析

股权集中度的高低决定了公司代理问题的本质，因此确定合理的股权集中度有助于降低代理成本，提高企业价值，所以逻辑研究的前提是首先要了解影响股权集中度的相关因素。本文对我国上市公司股权集中度影响因素的实证分析结果表明，终极控制人性质、控股大股东性质、控制层级、地区市场化程度以及上市公司业绩、规模、风险、负债率高低及所属行业情况是影响股权集中度的主要因素。     

公司股权激励及高管薪酬披露分析

本文分析发现，实施股权激励的上市公司2006年每股收益以及净资产收益率水平远远高于深市平均水平。采取限制性股票激励方式的公司对业绩影响的测算远不如采取期权激励方式的公司测算过程清晰，公司披露的详尽程度也有较大差距。殷权激励的作用已经初步显现，截至2007年4月30日．16家样本公司的激励股份已经实现了约83．65亿元的增值。同时，股权激励也带来了一系列的监管问题，须进一步完善相关法规，强化监管，合理引导更多的上市公司建立适当的股权激励制度，以推动上市公司完善法人治理结构，夯实证券市场基础。     

Equity valuation: A survey of professional practice

This paper reports the results of a scientific survey of the equity valuation practices of CFA Institute members with equity analysis job responsibilities. Using an instrument designed to minimize biases in prior valuation surveys and sampling a larger group than in previous studies (13,500 investment professionals, resulting in 1,980 valid completed questionnaires), this paper documents professional practices in the selection of equity valuation approaches, including specific model variations and key input preferences. Important differences in practice were observed across geographies and employer firm types.     

Corporate Governance and Firm Survival

We explore how various aspects of corporate governance influence the likelihood of a public corporation surviving as a separate public entity, after addressing potential endogeneity that arises from competing corporate exit outcomes: acquisitions, going‐private transactions, and bankruptcies. We find that some corporate governance features are more important determinants of the form of a firm's exit than many economic factors that have figured prominently in prior research. We also find evidence that outsider‐dominated boards and lower restrictions on internal governance play major roles in the way firms exit public markets, particularly when a firm's industry suffers a negative shock. Overall, our results suggest that failure to recognize competing risks produces biased estimates, resulting in faulty inferences.     

Taxation, Uncertainty, and the Cost of Equity

Traditionally the pre-tax cost of capital is a function of the interest rate and the tax system. However, uncertainty implies that the market's required return is no single interest rate, but depends on risk. Different tax systems split risk differently between firm and government. Thus the required expected return after corporate taxes depends on the tax system. Expressions for this are derived, based on a CAPM-type model. The weighted average cost of capital is decreasing in the tax rate, even for fully equity financed projects. This effect can be substantial, but is neglected in much of the literature.     

An Empirical Examination of the Pricing of Seasoned Equity Offerings: A Test of the Signaling Hypothesis

This paper tests the predictions made by Signaling Theory against the competing Price–Irrelevance Hypothesis (Eckbo and Masulis, 1992). Signaling Theory suggests that the issue price of a security provides a signal of quality of the issuing firm. In contrast, the Price–Irrelevance Hypothesis suggests that equity pricing does not possess information content. This paper investigates the pricing of seasoned equity offerings by examining the role of firm quality and relative firm valuation on issue price discounts. Additionally, this paper investigates the relationship between the issue price discount and the market reaction at the issuance of seasoned equity offerings. The results indicate that firm quality does not have a significant impact on the degree of price discounting by the issuing firm. Relative firm market valuation does appear to be a determinant of the magnitude of discounting in setting the issue price. This paper also provides evidence that seasoned equity offerings firms that provide a lower issue-price discount experience a lower stock-price decline following the issuance as compared to firms offering a higher price discount.