This thesis examines whether mergers and acquisitions (M&A), ranging from 2009 to 2020, are value-generating for acquiring shareholders in the short-term and long-term of companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. A cohesive and integrated theoretical framework is formed in which six firm-specific and deal-specific variables are hypothesized to have varying impacts on both short- and long-term stock performance for acquiring shareholders. An event study was conducted to measure the short-term stock performance, i.e. cumulative abnormal returns (CAR), and long-term stock performance, i.e. buy-and-hold abnormal returns (BHAR). We find that M&A transactions are, on average, value-generating for acquiring shareholders in both the short term and the long term. Among the significant findings of the variables examined, firm size was negatively related to short-term stock performance but positively related to BHAR. The relative size of the transaction was found to be positively related to CAR. Furthermore, transactions mediated with cash were found to be positively related to BHAR. Lastly, related transactions were found to be positively related to CAR, although not when accounting for robust standard errors.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Agricultural Economics / Ted Schroeder / Food recalls have been an issue of great concern in the food industry. Stakeholder responses to food safety scares can cause significant economic losses for food firms. Assessing the overall impact that may result from a food recall requires a thorough understanding of the costs incurred by firms. However, quantifying these costs is daunting if not impossible. A direct measurement of a firm’s total costs and losses of revenue associated with a food recall requires firm-level data that is not available. The method utilized in this study overcomes this severe limitation. Using an event study, the impact of meat and poultry recalls is quantified by analyzing price reactions in financial markets, where it is expected that stock prices would reflect the overall economic impact of a recall. A unique contribution of this study is evaluating whether recall and firm specific characteristics are economic drivers of the magnitude of impact of meat and poultry recalls on stock prices. Results indicate that on average shareholders’ wealth is reduced by 1.15% within 5 days after a firm is implicated in a recall involving serious food safety hazards. However, when recalls involve less severe hazards, stock markets do not react negatively. Also, reductions in company valuations return to pre-recall levels after day 20. Firm size, firm’s experience, media information and recall size are drivers of the economic impact of meat and poultry recalls. That is, firms recalling a larger amount of product perceive greater reductions in company valuations. Additionally, recalls issued by larger firms are less likely to present negative effects on stock prices, compared to smaller firms. Moreover, firms that have recently issued a recall are less harmed by a new recall compared to those firms issuing a recall for first time. Thus, suggesting that investors take into consideration the past performance of a company when dealing with food recalls. Furthermore, media information has a negative impact on shareholder’s wealth. Findings from this study provide essential information to the meat industry. In particular, understanding the likely impact of such “black swan” events is critical for firm’s investing in food safety technologies and protocols.

Antalet kvinnliga styrelseledamöter i bolag har ökat de senaste åren och studier visar att bolag med könsdiversifierade styrelser redovisar högre lönsamhet än andra företag. Flera av dessa studier är baserade på data från små, medelstora och stora börsnoterade bolag. Regeringen föreslog nyligen en kvoteringslag där kvinnor skall utgöra 40 procent av antalet styrelseledamöter i bolag med syfte att få mer jämlika styrelser. Intressant är då att studera om fördelarna med könsdiversifierade styrelser beaktas av investerare och hur marknadsaktörer agerar. I studien visas att när nominering av kvinnliga styrelseledamöter offentliggörs har det en negativ påverkan på företagets marknadsvärde, men denna påverkan är inte statistiskt signifikant. Vidare påverkas inte nomineringens inverkan på aktiekursförändringen av ett bolags branschtillhörighet. / The number of female directors of companies has increased in recent years and studies show that companies with diverse boards report higher profitability than other companies. Several of these studies are based on data from small, medium and large listed companies. The government recently proposed a quota law where women will constitute 40 per cent of the directors of companies to push for more equal boards. Hence, studying the benefits of diverse boards and its investor reactions and how the market is moving is of interest. The study shows that when the nomination of female board members is published, it has a negative impact on the company's market, but this effect is not statistically significant. Furthermore, the nomination affect does not have an impact on the stock price change regarding the company's industry affiliation.

The following dissertation contains two distinct empirical essays which contribute to the overall field of Financial Economics. Chapter 1, entitled “Financial Inclusion and Economic Development in OIC Member Countries,” examines whether the presence of Islamic finance promotes development and alleviates poverty. To do so, we estimate the influence of financial inclusion variables on development and poverty variables for OIC countries. Using data from the World Bank, we use dynamic panel analysis using methodology similar to Beck et al (2000) to study the effects of financial inclusion on economic development and use simple cross-sectional analysis similar to Beck et al (2004) to study the effects on poverty alleviation. We find that the countries with Islamic finance tend to outperform the rest of the world. We believe that the ability of financial institutions offering Shari’a compliant services to bring otherwise excluded people under the financial system plays a major role in increased development and reduced poverty in those countries. The results support our view that financial inclusion is causing development. Chapter 2 entitled, “Asymmetric Market Reactions to the 2007-08 Financial Crisis: From Wall Street to Main Street,” examines the impact of significant news events during the 2007 – 2008 financial crisis on the abnormal stock returns for portfolios of financial and real sector firms. We recognize 17 significant news events from 2007 and 2008 and create equity portfolios using daily CRSP data from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2009. We estimate event announcement interval abnormal returns in the context of an asset pricing model similar to Fama and French (1993) and Carhart (1997). We document significant negative abnormal returns for the portfolio of non-financial firms, and the smallest firms exhibit the largest negative abnormal returns, an indication of a significant spillover of financial market news to real sector stock returns. Smaller financial firms also exhibit negative abnormal event returns, and these results are driven by broker-dealer, depository, holding-investment, and real estate firms. The results provide new evidence regarding the incorporation of news events into asset prices during financial crises.

[pt] A presente pesquisa se insere em um contexto caracterizado pela crescente discussão de geração de valor ao acionista intensificada pela crise econômica ocorrida entre os anos de 2008 e 2009, que fez crescer diversas dúvidas relacionadas à doutrina de maximização do valor para o acionista principalmente no que tange as estratégias para alcançar este objetivo. Neste contexto, a definição e a escolha da estratégia mais adequada se mostram como diferenciais para enfrentar os desafios impostos pelo cenário econômico no que tange a questão do desempenho da empresa e seu retorno para os acionistas. Desta forma, o objetivo central do estudo foi relacionar as estratégias de crescimento (fusões e aquisições ou crescimento orgânico) com o desempenho de empresas que passaram por um processo de fusões e aquisições no período de 2003 até 2013 baseado no indicador de desempenho definido como Q de Tobin. A pesquisa foi realizada por meio de testes estatísticos com dados empíricos das empresas de capital aberto, com ações negociadas na bolsa de valores de São Paulo e avaliou indicadores de retornos das ações das empresas que foram adquiridas e das firmas que as compraram, bem como características da transação tais como a forma de pagamento, a quantidade de compradores, o tamanho relativo entre as empresas e o desempenho destas empresas medido pelo índice Q de Tobin. Os resultados demonstraram que a base de dados disponível para o período analisado não é suficiente para chegarmos a uma conclusão definitiva sobre o impacto das variáveis citadas acima sobre o retorno das ações. / [en] This research is part of a context characterized by increasing use of discussion to generate shareholder value enhanced by the economic crisis that occurred in 2008 and 2009 that has increased several questions related to the doctrine of maximizing shareholder value, especially regarding the strategies to achieve this goal. In this context, the definition and selection of the most appropriate strategy is shown as differential to face the challenges posed by the economic scenario regarding the issue of the performance of the company and its shareholder return. Thus, the main objective of this research was to compare the growth strategies ( mergers and acquisitions or organic growth ) with the performance of companies that have gone through a process of mergers and acquisitions from 2003 to 2013 based on the performance indicator defined as Tobin s Q. The survey was conducted by means of statistical tests with empirical data of publicly traded companies with shares traded on the São Paulo Stock Exchange and assessed indicators of stock returns of companies that went through the acquisition event as well as features transaction such as payment method, the number of buyers, the relative size between firms and the performance of these companies measured by Tobin s Q. The results showed that the available database for the reporting period is not sufficient to come to a definite conclusion about the impact of the aforementioned variables on stock returns.

The last decades have seen a rapid increase of sustainable investing, also known as ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investing. There has also been an increasing body of academic literature devoted to whether investors can gain any financial benefits from taking ESG under consideration. Previous literature of portfolio performance in terms of risk-adjusted returns has given much of its attention to best-in-class approaches, which is a strategy that selects top performers in ESG within a sector or industry. The purpose of this study is foremost to investigate a best-effort approach to ESG investing, which is a strategy that focuses on the top improvers in ESG. The purpose is further to compare this with a best-in-class approach, since the findings from earlier studies of this strategy still are inconsistent. The region chosen to perform this study in is the Eurozone. Several theories that have implications for portfolio studies and abnormal returns are taken under consideration in relation to the study and its findings. This includes the efficient market hypothesis, the adaptive market hypothesis and modern portfolio theory. The theoretical framework also cover asset-pricing models and the notions of risk-adjusted returns. A quantitative study with a deductive approach are used to form portfolios, with a Eurozone index as the investable universe. Best-effort and best-in-class portfolios as well as difference portfolios of the two approaches are created, based on ESG data and different cut-off rates for portfolio inclusion. As for risk-adjusted performance measure, the Carhart four-factor model are used. The overall results are mostly insignificant findings in terms of abnormal returns. However, three best-effort portfolios based on the top ESG improvers show significant positive abnormal returns. These findings are strongest for the environmental and social factor. As for the best-in-class approach, only the governance portfolios provided weakly significant results in terms of abnormal returns. Further, the study is not able to significantly distinguish between a best-effort and a best-in-class approach when it comes to risk-adjusted performance. The exception is the environmental factor based on the top performers in each approach, where the best-effort portfolio outperforms the best-in-class portfolio. Finally, none of the portfolios provided significant negative risk-adjusted returns. This can at least be considered as good news for ESG investing, since it indicates that investors do not have to sacrifice risk-adjusted returns in order to invest in a more sustainable way.

This paper investigates how CEOs in public Swedish mid-cap corporations time their transactions in their own company’s stock in a short-term perspective. To investigate this, an event study methodology is employed on cumulative returns surrounding these insiders’ transactions, both absolute and relative to the market. We find that these insiders, on average, purchase stock subsequent to a period of decline in both total and abnormal cumulative returns and sell stock following a period of positive total and abnormal returns. This is in line with our hypotheses. We also find that total and abnormal cumulative returns tend to turn and increase for a short period following a purchase transaction, while for a sale transaction, the trend does not turn but continues upward, implying that purchases may be timed more rigorously in the short run than sales. This paper discusses these observations in connection to earlier findings and motivates further research on the subject of insider transaction timing.

Submitted by Nara Lays Domingues Viana Oliveira (naradv) on 2015-08-29T14:35:41Z No. of bitstreams: 1 tonidandel.pdf: 937131 bytes, checksum: 8e7451c0e897bad1c49e3351c8eb5f4e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-08-29T14:35:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tonidandel.pdf: 937131 bytes, checksum: 8e7451c0e897bad1c49e3351c8eb5f4e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Nenhuma / O presente trabalho verifica se as operações realizadas por insider trader com ações da própria empresa auferem rentabilidade superior à média do mercado. Nesse sentido é importante identificar possíveis movimentos de insiders traders, bem como evidências de retornos anormais. Isso poderia ajudar os órgãos reguladores a serem mais efetivos na coibição desse tipo de operação. Para tanto, foram coletadas 38.141 operações, obtidas em 9.945 formulários de 167 empresas com liquidez em bolsa superior a 1% que foram enviados mensalmente à CVM no período de janeiro de 2006 a dezembro de 2011. O método utilizado para determinar o retorno anormal médio acumulado foi o estudo de eventos, definido a partir do modelo de Campbell, Lo e Mackinlay (1997). Para a concepção da amostra final restaram 109 empresas das quais foram encontradas 665 operações que se destacaram por apresentarem volumes muito superiores à média de negociações realizadas pelos insiders das respectivas empresas. Destas 665 operações, 474 (71,28%) apresentaram retornos anormais. Sendo assim, foram encontradas 281 operações de venda e 193 operações de compra realizadas por insiders que diagnosticaram retornos anormais. As ações vendidas por insiders apresentaram retorno anormal médio de -3,73%, -7,03% e -10,12% após 30, 90 e 180 dias da data da venda, o que sugere que os insiders detinham alguma informação desconhecida do mercado e se anteciparam à futura queda vendendo suas ações. Já as operações de compras realizadas pelos insiders traders foram seguidas de alta das ações, o que sugere que a utilização de informações antecipadas em relação ao mercado para a realização de compras com retornos anormais positivos que foram respectivamente de +5,49%, +8,03% e +10,12%, após 30, 90 e 180 dias. Em seguida, foram efetuados vários procedimentos para avaliar a rentabilidade obtida pelos insiders de acordo com o tipo de controle, origem do capital, setor de atividade, segmento de governança corporativa, tipo de operações, insiders por operações e tamanho da empresa. Estas análises e procedimentos apenas confirmaram os retornos encontrados no computo geral quanto a presença de insider trading no mercado acionário brasileiro. / This study verifies that the operations performed by insider trading with shares of the company earn higher returns than the market average. In this sense it is important to identify possible movements Insider traders, as well as evidence of abnormal returns. This could help regulators to be more effective in the deterrence of such operations. To this end, we collected 38 141 operations, obtained in 9945 Forms 167 companies with liquidity in the stock exceeds 1% who were sent to CVM monthly from January 2006 to December 2011. The method used to determine the average abnormal return was the study of events, defined from the model of Campbell, Lo and Mackinlay (1997). For the design of the final sample remaining 109 companies of which 665 were found to operations stood out for having much higher than average volumes of transactions made by insiders of their respective companies. Of these 665 operations, 474 (71.28%) had abnormal returns. Thus, we found 281 transactions of sale and purchase of 193 operations performed by insiders who diagnosed abnormal returns. The shares sold by insiders showed average abnormal return of -3.73%, -7.03% and -10.12% after 30, 90 and 180 days from the date of sale, which suggests that insiders held some information unknown to the market and the anticipated future selling their shares fall. Since the operations of purchases by insiders traders were followed by high shares, which suggests that the use of advance information about the market to make purchases with positive abnormal returns that were respectively +5.49%, +8 , and 03% +10.12% after 30, 90 and 180 days. Then, several procedures were performed to assess the profitability achieved by insiders according to the control type, source of capital, industry, corporate governance segment, type of transactions, transactions by insiders and company size. These tests and procedures only confirmed the returns found in the general computation as the presence of insider trading in the Brazilian stock market.

This study analyzes the impact of merger and acquisition financing method on buyer cumulative abnormal returns. The model builds on findings in previous literature by including deal structure variables, company variables, industry variables, time variables, and post-acquisition announcement return data from 2000 to 2018. The analysis does not find a statistically significant relationship between cash plus debt/stock financing and cumulative abnormal returns. However, significant coefficients for buyer and target industry suggest that deal structure varies and ultimately effects cumulative abnormal returns within specific industries. Additionally, significant results for buyer profitability and time variables provide insight on how the financial market interprets synergy realization and economic crises in relation to security valuation and the mergers and acquisitions market.

Purpose: The main objective of this thesis is to study if acquiring companies’ shareholders on the Swedish market earn abnormal returns after an M&A and further to examine possible differences in the abnormal return depending on whether the M&A is announced during a period with high level of merger activity or low level of merger activity. Method: This thesis uses a quantitative research method and an event study to examine abnormal returns. The abnormal return is obtained by calculating the difference between the actual return and the normal return. Stock prices for the thirty companies in the sample have been collected; fifteen M&As from periods characterized by high merger activity and fifteen M&As from periods of low merger activity. The event window consists in total of eleven days, five days before the announcement day and five days after. Day minus six is used as an index. Finally, the results have been tested with t-statistics for further analyzing. Conclusion: Our findings regarding the Swedish market in this thesis is not consistent with most of the previous research. Earlier research claims negative abnormal returns for the acquiring companies’ shareholders. In our study we have found that the Swedish acquiring companies’ shareholders actually earn positive abnormal returns after an M&A. Moreover, the abnormal returns are higher for M&As announced during times with high level of merger activity on the market compared to the abnormal returns for M&As announced when the level activity of merger is low. / Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om förvärvande företags aktieägare på den svenska marknaden uppnår onormal avkastning efter ett företagsförvärv. Studien undersöker även skillnader i onormal avkastning till det förvärvande företaget beroende på om förvärvet genomförts under en tidsperiod med hög respektive låg aktivitet av företagsförvärv på marknaden. Metod: Denna uppsats använder sig av en kvantitativ forskningsmetod samt en eventstudie för att undersöka onormal avkastning. Den onormala avkastningen erhålles genom att beräkna skillnaden mellan den faktiska avkastningen efter ett företagsförvärv med den normala avkastningen om förvärvet inte genomförts. Aktiepriset för de trettio företagen i urvalet har samlats in, hälften av urvalet är hämtat från en period med hög förvärvsaktivitet och resterande från en period med låg förvärvsaktivitet. Händelsefönstret består av elva dagar, fem dagar före och fem dagar efter tillkännagivandet av företagsförvärvet. Dag minus sex används som index. Slutligen har resultatens testats med t-test för vidare analys. Slutsats: Våra resultat gällande den svenska marknaden är inte samstämmiga med de flesta av de presenterade tidigare forskningarna. Enligt mycket tidigare forskning erhåller förvärvande företagens aktieägare negativ onormal avkastning medan vår studie av svenska företag visar positiv onormal avkastning till följd av ett företagsförvärv. Dessutom är den onormala avkastningen högre för företagsförvärv som genomförs i perioder med hög aktivitet av förvärv på marknaden jämfört med den onormala avkastningen för företagsförvärv som genomförs när aktivitetsnivån på förvärv är låg.