A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering. Johannesburg, 2015 / The minerals industry has in the last decade witnessed volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA). The diamond industry has not been immune to these challenges. These challenges coincided with the decision of the diamond mining family in 2011 to opt out of De Beers after approximately a century of being in control by selling their 40 % stake to Anglo American plc (AA) which already had 45 % stake in De Beers. This transaction increased Anglo American plc‟s stake in De Beers to 85% thus joining venture with the Government of the Republic of Botswana (GRB) under an already existing entity called Debswana. Botswana has been hailed as a beacon of success and a model African state both politically and economically mainly due to its effective management of economic proceeds generated mainly through Debswana diamonds. Something that might be seen as a possible threat to this economic stability is the merger and acquisition (M&A) between the GRB and AA. As a result this study was conducted as a way of investigating any possible impacts of the partnership of GRB and AA on the Debswana diamond company through the M&A transaction that occurred in 2011. The study was restricted to the mining operations in order to assess Debswana‟s performance more meaningfully pre and post the acquisition of De Beers shares by AA. The mining activities from Debswana operations comprise of Letlhakane, Damtshaa, Orapa, Jwaneng and Morupule Coal mine. The study is focusing on the production statistics and financial analysis using stock market and financial ratios. These are discussed in detail to assess the possible impact of the merger on Debswana‟s performance. In addition to this, empirical evidence based on factors determining a firm‟s performance before and after acquisition or merger is also discussed, with further action of aligning determinants to the literature findings. The study‟s key findings were that there has been a significant reduction in AA‟s financial performance post-merger but Debswana‟s performance has been fairly consistent. This is probably due to the fact that the 3-year post merger window period may not be sufficient to observe sufficient changes in Debswana‟s performance. Further research can be conducted on the current AA‟s repositioning strategy that aims at divesting in other operations and focusing on others and its impact on Debswana over a much longer window period than 3 years. / M T 2016

In essay I, I empirically examine theoretical inferences of real options models regarding the effects of business risk on the pricing of firms engaged in corporate control transactions. This study shows that the risk differential between the merging firms has a significant effect on the risk dynamic of bidding firms around control transactions and that the at-announcement risk dynamic is negatively related to that in the preannouncement period. In addition, the relative size of the target, the volatility of bidder cash flows, and the relative growth rate of the bidder have significant explanatory power in the cross-section of announcement returns to bidding firm shareholders as does the change in the cost of capital resulting from the transaction. Essay II provides an empirical analysis of a second set of real options models that theoretically examine the dynamics of financial risk around control transactions as well as the link between financial leverage and the probability of acquisition. In addition, I present a comparison of the financial risk dynamics of firms that choose an external growth strategy, through acquisition, and those that pursue an internal growth strategy through capital expenditures that are unrelated to acquisition. / by Jeffrey M. Coy. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

This thesis is concerned with the question of how narrative activity influences the conditions in which a new sense of self is actively emergent for an employee at a time of organisational merger. It is contended that an organisational merger is a transformational event with complex temporal and spatial characteristics, involving the activities of making shared meaning (MacIntyre, 1981; Ricoeur, 1974a), narrative-making (Carr, 1986; MacIntyre, 1981; Ricoeur, 1984, 1985, 1988) and positioning (Bourdieu, 1993, 1998b). These activities are central to the conditions in which persons and organisations are both formed and reformed. Consideration of how they are part of a project of narrative identity (Ricoeur, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1992) opens new possibilities in our understanding of the lived experience of a merger. In appropriating narrative theory, this thesis is exploratory in nature as narrative ideas have not, to date, been applied to an understanding of the lived experience of an organisational merger. Mergers are currently understood as a clash of cultures, and a merger is treated as a marriage with partners, compatibility, commitment, rituals, dominance and fit. Whereas culture is construed in the literature as a quality that differentiates one organisation from another, and personal experience is understood in terms of adjusting to the presence of another culture, in this thesis a different theory is employed. The main theory integration in this thesis gives prominence to the dynamic of activity/passivity (Allen & Starr, 1982; Schelling, 1800/1978) and the notions of agency, relationship, transformation, and identity. Narrative theory is integrated with social theory (Bourdieu, 1998b) to enrich our understanding of these notions. Hence this thesis extends the contribution of Drummond (1996, 1998), and is situated in the constructive postmodern stance of process philosophy (Gare, in press-a; Griffin, 1993). This stance is invoked as a response to calls for better theories of action in management studies (Reed, 1996; Wilmott, 1994). It is argued, in agreement with Gare (in press-a, in press-b), that living organisms have a complexity that makes it difficult to maintain a state of indifference with respect to changes in their environment, and that they must form and reform themselves as products. Attention within management studies to self-organising activity at the levels of person, organisation and field of practice, is therefore central to our understanding of complex events such as organisational mergers. In this regard narrative-making and positioning are self-organising activities that are yet to be brought to centre stage in management theory. While no previous work has been done to apply narrative ideas to an understanding of mergers, such a move is nevertheless consistent with the increasing interest in narrative that is occurring across the theoretical divides in management studies. The application in this thesis concerns a merger of two government organisations. These organisations, herein given the fictitious names of 'Anessa' and 'Isengate' (for reasons of confidentiality), were each part of what is usually referred to in local government as 'a council'. This thesis is about the employees in these organisations during this time of political amalgamation of the two councils, and the consequent organisational merger. Through interviews with informants, the use of documents, and the integration of theory, a narrative is created. Of the many narratives that could be offered about this merger, it is the narrative given here that constitutes a response to the research question. Hence the methodology used sustains the purpose, which is to contribute to a reading experience, and the possibility of new interpretations regarding the lived experience of an organisational merger. This thesis concludes that it is at the level of 'ongoing argument' that persons and organisations are contributors to the process of 'making shared meaning'. At the federal level of government this argument is about how best to govern, and at the level of the field of practice it encompasses the argument over what constitutes public service activity. The State Government of Victoria actively furthered this contest when it undertook local government reform. It is argued that their narrative about local government reform has a life as part of 'economic rationalism' (Pusey, 1991), and it proceeds from an ideological position in a tradition of readings known as 'neoliberalism' (Bourdieu, 1998a). In this thesis employees are regarded as actively emergent beings living out a process of narrative identity. Under the authorship of the State Government employees were positioned as passive characters in the narrative of local government reform. For the employees considered in this thesis, this brought closure to a current and projected life narrative as a public servant at the local level. Their response was to reauthor their position to transcend this limitation, but it was found that this activity could be further limited according to the capital an employee could acquire in the form of 'time to tell a story' and 'space to tell a story'. The main contribution of this thesis, as a response to calls for better theories of action in management studies, is an exploration of how individual employees are processes of becoming, and how they participate in the becoming of the organisation and field to which they contribute. It is concluded that employees could be valued as processes of becoming, and this is a major contribution that they make to the field and organisation.

Zugl.: Bern, Universiẗat, Diss., 2007.

This paper develops a framework that analyzes how mergers and acquisitions in Alberta’s oil and gas industry affect stock prices. In this experiment, a multivariate regression is applied to several industry-specific variables to determine if they have impacts on the abnormal stock returns of acquirers. The results show that abnormal returns 5 days prior to the public announcement of the transaction are, in fact, driven by several industry-specific variables. However, the returns immediately after the M & A announcements are similar to previous research done in other industries. Acquirers’ gains 2 days after the announcement are essentially unaffected by the transaction. After a 90-day period, the share performances of acquiring firms tend to beat the index by 7% on average, but this is not thoroughly explained by the variables in the regression analysis.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009. / Prepared for: Dept. of Accounting. Title from title-page of electronic thesis. Bibliography: leaves 98-105.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universiẗat Frankfurt (Main), 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 497-510).

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This thesis addresses two important issues necessary to understand whether insider trading should be prohibited: the effects of insider trading on stock prices and the compensation to insiders for providing information and other related services. This task is accomplished by analyzing stock price changes during corporate takeovers, before and after the regulatory changes in the 1980's that were designed to reduce the level of insider trading. In this thesis, we develop an indirect measure of insider trading that shows how observable stock price movements during takeovers allow one to make inferences about changes in insider trading after regulatory changes. Specifically, we show that when inside information is partially revealed to the market, the effects of regulatory changes on insider trading can be identified by examining the price movements of stocks around takeover announcements. If, however, information is not revealed at all or is fully revealed, it is impossible to identify the effects of regulatory changes on insider trading. We also develop a segmented diffusion model to analyze price movements characterized by cumulative abnormal returns during the period surrounding a takeover announcement. An econometric model is developed to estimate the segmented diffusion model. Naturally, this methodology applies to the study of various events in addition to corporate takeovers and regulatory changes. We conduct empirical analysis to test three hypotheses. With regard to Hypothesis I, we find strong evidence that the tightening of insider trading regulations in the 1980's was effective and that inside information was partially revealed to the market. With regard to Hypothesis II, we find evidence that insider trading regulations have more effect on negotiated takeovers than on takeovers initiated by bidding. With regard to Hypothesis III, we find weak evidence that insiders associated with acquiring firms seek fewer but more profitable takeovers after the introduction of tighter regulations.

When the European Commission ultimately blocked the merger between American giant General Electrics and Honeywell in July 2001, this decision triggered a firestorm of criticism. Not only had the Commission just stopped a purely American transaction for the first time since the enactment of European Merger Regulation, but it also contradicted its American Counterpart, the US Department of Justice: The Americans had cleared the deal several months earlier. / In spite of constant cooperative efforts during the investigation, the two antitrust agencies could not reach a common position. When scholars and officials tried to find reasons for the divergence between the American and European decisions, they often criticized the Commission's general approach of focusing on competitors rather than on consumers. They further claimed that the Commission had used dubious economic models to block the merger. / This thesis tries to reinstate the reputation of the European Commission as a professional antitrust institution. The criticisms often left the impression that the Task Force of the Directorate-General for Competition of the European Commission constituted a politically-orientated, rather than economic and legally-orientated, organ. It will be shown that this is actually not the case. / After having analyzed the Commission's decision in detail, and revealing both the strengths and weaknesses of its findings, the thesis will demonstrate that most of the criticisms have to be rejected, and that the Commission had a legal and economic basis in blocking the GE-Honeywell merger.