This study provides information about convertible preferreds generally and, in particular, those used in financing mergers during the period 1968-1984. Specifically, the following topics are examined: (1) traditional corporate motives for the use of convertible preferreds as a financing means in mergers and acquisitions, (2) annual data about convertible preferreds' issuance by volume and purpose for the period 1968-1984, (3) average annual returns of merger-related convertible preferreds and average annual returns of common stock of the same companies for the period 1968-1980, (4) performance of convertible preferreds in relation to the market in general, and (5) the future of convertible preferreds as a financing instrument in merger activity.

Information leakage before full acquisitions has been widely documented. The information leakage, and the resulting pre-bid runup in the target's stock, generally increases the total cost of the acquisition. That is, information leakage and the ensuing pre-bid runup is a gain to the target and loss to the acquirer. Herein, I first ascertain the characteristics of full acquisitions that affect the amount of information leakage. I find that if the acquirer borrows to finance the acquisition then information leakage is greater. Further if the acquirer is foreign, if the target is a high-tech firm, and if the target has options on its stock all increase information leakage. I find hostile deals are effective in reducing information leakage. Lastly, information leakage increases in the percentage of managerial ownership. I next hypothesize that the identity and intent of partial acquirers is known to market participants before the announcement of a partial acquisition. I find that the market can anticipate whether a partial acquirer intends to fully-acquire or take an active role in the management of the target. Also, the market anticipates whether the acquirer is a private investment find or a non-financial corporation. Further, the acquirer's identity or intent is fully reflected in the target's stock price before the announcement of the partial acquisition. These results help explain why there are few partial acquisitions as precursors to full acquisitions. / I next hypothesize that macroeconomic factors affect information leakage, and may serve as a signal of when to speculate on acquisitions. I find that information leakage is positively related to shocks in both expected economic conditions and financing costs, the latter signaling to speculators that acquisitions are imminent. I also find information about an imminent full acquisition is leaked earlier when there are positive shocks to economic conditions and financing costs. / by Matthew David Brigida. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Not available

Zugl.: Tübingen, Univ., Diss., 2006

Mergers and acquisitions have been demonstrated to create synergies, but not in all cases. Current research reveals that where synergies exist, these seem to accrue to the shareholders of the selling companies. Given the limitations of our qualitative research design, we find that it is important to quantify synergy before the acquisition, preferably by applying certain best practices. In an attempt to enhance understanding of the phenomenon, we find that several types of synergy exist and that their origins include efficiencies, such as economies of scale and economies in innovative activity. We further find that the bid price is an important indicator of success and that its maximum should not exceed the intrinsic value of the target, plus the value of synergies between the bidder and target. We further find that best practices exist in quantifying cost and revenue synergies and describe these separately per origin. / Management Accounting / M.Com. (Accounting)

Artificial intelligence, AI, has received increasing attention from the finance industry over recent years. There have been many successful applications of AI in finance, including but not limited to derivative pricing, asset management, credit risk, algorithmic trading, and simulation of time series with stylized facts. This thesis introduces various applications of AI in two major fields, namely (a) quantitative/computational finance and (b) asset management. In each chapter, we address non-stationarity of markets under consideration and focus on building methodologies that would work under the non-stationary behavior of those market. In computational finance, fast and accurate algorithms are of great importance, especially when analytical solutions are unavailable. Although traditional methods are reliable and easily explainable, they are computationally expensive. Transform methods like Fast-Fourier transform provide faster option pricing, yet they cannot be applied to path-dependent products. In Chapter 2, we build a pricing engine based on supervised deep neural networks. We show that neural networks can replicate major stochastic processes with or without stochastic volatility in both pure diffusion and pure jump frameworks. We validate our models across different ranges of model parameters. Supervised neural networks accelerate the derivative pricing significantly compared to traditional methods. Applications of AI in asset management are triggered by different dynamics, but they are fully data-driven and thus rely on the availability of data. Chapter 3 proposes a novel prediction framework for cash flow forecasting of illiquid products/assets. Our single-step neural network model provides the investors and managers of funds with a tool to manage the liquidity of their cash flows for financial planning. Our framework is also sensitive to adverse market conditions that could help prepare for upcoming crises such as Covid. In Chapter 4, we propose novel methodologies for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to predict the deal announcement based on rumors and takeover success. M&A data is highly imbalanced in nature, and the cost of misclassifying a cancelled rumor/cancelled deal as announced deal/takeover success is higher than the other. Hence, we utilize sequential model-based optimization with tree-parzen estimators to maximize the recall score by tuning hyperparameters of neural networks. We improve the recall by 10% without sacrificing accuracy, and our results show that the proposed methodology is robust against changing market environments. In the last chapter, we build a two-step neural network model for sector rotation strategies using macroeconomic variables. The portfolio built based on our proposed model not only beats the benchmark portfolio but can also predict longer horizons.

Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.Com. (Bedryfsielkunde)

Thesis (M.B.A.: Business Studies Unit)-Durban University of Technology, 2008. xi, 96 leaves / The amalgamation of municipalities came into effect as a legislative requirement brought about a number of challenges for the local government. One such major challenge relates to the impact that these amalgamations will have on human resource practices of the various municipalities. Literature study reveals that during any merger or amalgamation, less attention is paid to the human element of a merger until the merger is almost complete. This lack of attention impacts negatively on the merger results. Like other municipalities, Ethekwini Municipality is a product of this legislative requirement. It was formed as a result of the amalgamation of different municipal entities that had different human resource practices. The problem facing eThekwini Municipality is the misalignment of human resources policies and their effect on the working environment. This study looks at the impact of this amalgamation on the human resources practices of the eThekwini Municipality. The sub-objectives of the study are: to ascertain employees’ perceptions of amalgamation; to determine whether employees believe that the human resources’ matters are handled in a manner that will bring about stability and equity in the workplace; and to establish whether different perceptions exist between employees of the former Durban Metro Central and those of the erstwhile entities. / M

Thesis (M.B.A.)-Business Studies Unit, Durban University of Technology, 2007 iv, 116 leaves / The research assesses employee readiness at eThekwini Electricity to form part of the Regional Electricity Distributor, which had been legislated by Government. The premise of the study is to investigate, identify and understand key factors likely to promote or inhibit effective readiness to change. If these factors can be measured by the organisation, an evaluation of the difficulty of the change effort can then be used to plan accordingly. By assessing readiness for change in the organisation, Top Management will be in a position to identify gaps that may exist between their own expectations about the change effort and those of other organisational members. / M

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-03T18:35:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Carisa_Santos_Portela_Cristal.pdf: 1452002 bytes, checksum: 9010a4cca2dae5c4e85ccbb76c2048f8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-03-20 / Business combination transactions represent a growth strategy to many firms around the world. In Brazil a major increase in the volume of business combination transactions has been observed in recent years. The publication of Law n?? 11.638/07 has served to afford conditions for Brazil to move in the direction of convergence with international standards, making the adoption of these standards, including those concerning business combination transactions, mandatory. The aim of this study is to: (i) verify whether there are significant differences between the goodwill recognized and measured before and after the adoption of IFRS for business combination transactions, by non-financial companies, listed in Spain and in the United Kingdom; and (ii) analyze the alterations of the accounting treatment prescribed by Brazilian standards with the taking effect of Law n?? 11.638/07, and to prospect probable barriers in the adoption of IFRS in Brazil, for business combination transactions. The study considers and relates the origin of the countries studied (Continental Europe x Anglo-Saxon Europe), as well as the basis of the accounting standards (rules x principles) to the differences identified in response to the adoption of IFRS. The research hypotheses were developed based on the review of literature, expecting to identify: significant alterations in the amount of goodwill recorded; more significant differences at companies listed in countries with their origin in Continental Europe; and differentiated perceptions of the impacts resulting from the adoption of IFRS by companies from different segments. To attain the objective a survey was conducted with a basis on the financial statements of 63 companies, with 35 listed in Spain and 28 in the United Kingdom, analyzing the impacts that occurred during the first year of adoption of IFRS. Statistical techniques were applied for analysis of the differences perceived with the adoption of IFRS and testing of the hypotheses defined, using: (i) Wilcoxon test aiming to evaluate the effects of the application of IFRS at the same company; (ii) Mann-Whitney test to compare the variation between the two listing countries, and; (iii) Kruskal-Wallis test for comparison among the various segments of the sample. The results obtained in the tests, besides other aspects, confirmed the existence of a significant difference in the goodwill before and after IFRS in the countries from the sample, Spain and the United Kingdom. These results and the analysis of previous studies made it possible to prospect probable barriers in the IFRS adoption process for business combination transactions at Brazilian companies. / Opera????es de combina????o de neg??cios representam uma estrat??gia de crescimento para muitas companhias ao redor do mundo. No Brasil observa-se um grande aumento no volume de opera????es de combina????o de neg??cios nos ??ltimos anos. A edi????o da Lei n?? 11.638/07 vem propiciar condi????es para que o Brasil caminhe para a converg??ncia ??s normas internacionais, tornando obrigat??ria a ado????o dessas normas, inclu??das aquelas concernentes ??s opera????es de combina????es de neg??cios. Esse estudo tem por objetivo: (i) verificar se existem diferen??as significativas entre o goodwill reconhecido e mensurado antes e depois da ado????o das IFRS para opera????es de combina????o de neg??cios, por empresas, n??o financeiras, listadas na Espanha e no Reino Unido; e (ii) analisar as altera????es do tratamento cont??bil prescrito pelas normas brasileiras com a entrada em vigor da Lei n?? 11.638/07, e prospectar prov??veis barreiras na ado????o das IFRS no Brasil, para opera????es de combina????o de neg??cios. O estudo considera e relaciona a origem dos pa??ses estudados (Europa Continental x anglo-sax??nica), bem como a base dos padr??es cont??beis (regras x princ??pios) com as diferen??as identificadas em resposta ?? ado????o das IFRS. Com base na revis??o da literatura foram desenvolvidas as hip??teses de pesquisa, sendo esperado identificar: altera????es significativas no valor do goodwill contabilizado; diferen??as mais significativas em empresas listadas em pa??ses com origem na Europa Continental; e percep????es diferenciadas dos impactos decorrentes da ado????o das IFRS por empresas de diferentes segmentos. Para atingir o objetivo foi realizada pesquisa com base nas demonstra????es financeiras de 63 empresas, sendo 35 listadas na Espanha e 28 no Reino Unido, analisando os impactos ocorridos quando do primeiro ano de ado????o das IFRS. Para an??lise das diferen??as percebidas com a ado????o das IFRS e teste das hip??teses definidas foram aplicadas t??cnicas estat??sticas utilizando: (i) teste de Wilcoxon com objetivo de avaliar os reflexos da aplica????o das IFRS na mesma empresa; (ii) teste de Mann-Whitney para comparar a varia????o entre os dois pa??ses de listagem, e; (iii) teste de Kruskal-Wallis para compara????o entre os diversos segmentos da amostra. Os resultados obtidos nos testes, entre outros aspectos, confirmaram a exist??ncia de diferen??a significativa no goodwill antes e depois das IFRS nos pa??ses da amostra, Espanha e Reino Unido. Estes resultados e a an??lise de estudos anteriores possibilitaram a prospec????o de barreiras no processo de ado????o das IFRS para opera????es de combina????o de neg??cios em empresas brasileiras.