Market Liquidity, Active Investment, and Markets for Information. This paper studies a financial market in which investors choose among investment strategies that exploit information about different fundamentals. On the one hand, the presence of other informed investors generates illiquidity. On the other hand, investors who use different strategies can serve as quasi-noise traders for each other, thereby also supplying each other with liquidity. Thus, investment strategies can be substitutes or complements. Such externalities in information acquisition have effects on investor herding, comovement in prices and liquidity across assets, trade volume, and the informational role of prices. They further affect the relationship between financial markets and information markets. Information market competition fosters investor diversity, whereas monopoly power promotes investor herding. Also, in order to benefit from quasi-noise trading, a financial institution may engage in both proprietary trading and information sales. Security-Voting Structure and Bidder Screening. This paper shows that non-voting shares can promote takeovers. When the bidder has private information, shareholders may refuse to tender because they suspect to sell at an ex-post unfavourable price. The ensuing friction in the sale of cash flow rights can prevent an efficient sale of control. Separating cash flow and voting rights mitigates this externality, thereby facilitating takeovers. In fact, the fraction of non-voting shares can be used to discriminate between efficient and inefficient bidders. The optimal fraction decreases with managerial ability, implying an inverse relationship between firm value and non-voting shares. As non-voting shares increase control contestability, share reunification programs entrench managers of widely held firms, whereas dual-class recapitalizations can increase shareholder wealth. Signaling in Tender Offer Games. This paper examines whether a bidder can use the terms of the tender offer to signal the post-takeover security benefits to the shareholders of a widely held target firm. As atomistic shareholders extract all the gains in security benefits, signaling equilibria are subject to a constraint that is absent from bilateral trade models. The buyer (bidder) must enjoy gains from trade that are excluded from bargaining (private benefits), but can nonetheless be relinquished and enable shareholders to draw inference about the security benefits. Restricted bids and cash-equity offers do not satisfy these requirements. Dilution, debt financing, probabilistic takeover outcomes and toeholds are all viable signals because they make bidder gains depend on the security benefits in a predictable manner. In all the signaling equilibria, lower-valued types must forgo a larger fraction of their private benefits and these signaling costs prevent some takeovers. When the bidder has additional private information about the private benefits as in the case of two-dimensional bidder types, fully revealing equilibria cease to exist. This does not hold once bidders can offer not only cash or equity but also (more) elaborate contingent claims. Offers which include options avoid inefficiencies and implement the symmetric information outcome. Goldrush Dynamics of Private Equity. This paper presents a simple dynamic model of entry and exit in a private equity market with heterogeneous private equity firms, a depletable stock of target companies, and rational learning about investment profitability. The predictions of the model match a number of stylized facts: Aggregate fund activity follows waves with endogenous transitions from boom to bust. Supply and demand in the private equity market are inelastic, and the supply comoves with investment valuations. High industry performance precedes high entry, which in turn precedes low industry performance. There are persistent differences in fund performance across private equity firms, first-time funds underperform the industry, and first-time funds raised in booms are unlikely to be succeeded by a follow-on fund. Fund performance and fund size are positively correlated across firms, but negatively correlated across consecutive funds of a private equity firm. Finally, booms can make ”too much capital chase too few deals.” Reputable Friends as Watchdogs: Social Ties and Governance. To examine how governance is affected when a designated supervisor befriends the person to be supervised, this paper embeds a delegated monitoring problem in a social structure: the supervisor and the agent are friends, and the supervisor desires to be socially recognized for having integrity. Strengthening the friendship weakens the supervisor’s monitoring incentives, forging an alliance against the principal (bonding). But the agent also grows more reluctant to put the supervisor’s perceived integrity at risk, thus becoming more aligned with the principal (bridging). If the supervisor’s desire for social recognition is strong, the principal’s preferences regarding the supervisor-agent friendship are bipolar. Weak friendship makes the supervisor monitor intensively to save face. Strong friendship leads the supervisor to abandon monitoring but the agent to behave well in order to protect the supervisor from losing face. The strength of friendship necessary for the latter outcome decreases in the supervisor’s desire for esteem; that is, image concerns leverage the bridging effect of friendship. This suggests that overlapping personal and professional ties can enhance delegated governance in cultures or contexts where social recognition is important, and provides a novel perspective on issues related to crony capitalism, corporate governance, and organizational culture. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2009 Sammanfattning jämte 5 uppsatser

This thesis presents the main results of my research in the field of computational finance and portfolios optimization. We focus on pricing Asian basket options and portfolio problems in the presence of inflation with stochastic interest rates.<p><p>In Chapter 2, we concentrate upon the derivation of bounds for European-style discrete arithmetic Asian basket options in a Black and Scholes framework.We start from methods used for basket options and Asian options. First, we use the general approach for deriving upper and lower bounds for stop-loss premia of sums of non-independent random variables as in Kaas et al. [Upper and lower bounds for sums of random variables, Insurance Math. Econom. 27 (2000) 151–168] or Dhaene et al. [The concept of comonotonicity in actuarial science and finance: theory, Insurance Math. Econom. 31(1) (2002) 3–33]. We generalize the methods in Deelstra et al. [Pricing of arithmetic basket options by conditioning, Insurance Math. Econom. 34 (2004) 55–57] and Vanmaele et al. [Bounds for the price of discrete sampled arithmetic Asian options, J. Comput. Appl. Math. 185(1) (2006) 51–90]. Afterwards we show how to derive an analytical closed-form expression for a lower bound in the non-comonotonic case. Finally, we derive upper bounds for Asian basket options by applying techniques as in Thompson [Fast narrow bounds on the value of Asian options, Working Paper, University of Cambridge, 1999] and Lord [Partially exact and bounded approximations for arithmetic Asian options, J. Comput. Finance 10 (2) (2006) 1–52]. Numerical results are included and on the basis of our numerical tests, we explain which method we recommend depending on moneyness and time-to-maturity<p><p>In Chapter 3, we propose some moment matching pricing methods for European-style discrete arithmetic Asian basket options in a Black & Scholes framework. We generalize the approach of Curran M. (1994) [Valuing Asian and portfolio by conditioning on the geometric mean price”, Management science, 40, 1705-1711] and of Deelstra G. Liinev J. and Vanmaele M. (2004) [Pricing of arithmetic basket options by conditioning”, Insurance: Mathematics & Economics] in several ways. We create a framework that allows for a whole class of conditioning random variables which are normally distributed. We moment match not only with a lognormal random variable but also with a log-extended-skew-normal random variable. We also improve the bounds of Deelstra G. Diallo I. and Vanmaele M. (2008). [Bounds for Asian basket options”, Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, 218, 215-228]. Numerical results are included and on the basis of our numerical tests, we explain which method we recommend depending on moneyness and<p>time-to-maturity.<p><p>In Chapter 4, we use the stochastic dynamic programming approach in order to extend<p>Brennan and Xia’s unconstrained optimal portfolio strategies by investigating the case in which interest rates and inflation rates follow affine dynamics which combine the model of Cox et al. (1985) [A Theory of the Term Structure of Interest Rates, Econometrica, 53(2), 385-408] and the model of Vasicek (1977) [An equilibrium characterization of the term structure, Journal of Financial Economics, 5, 177-188]. We first derive the nominal price of a zero coupon bond by using the evolution PDE which can be solved by reducing the problem to the solution of three ordinary differential equations (ODE). To solve the corresponding control problems we apply a verification theorem without the usual Lipschitz assumption given in Korn R. and Kraft H.(2001)[A Stochastic control approach to portfolio problems with stochastic interest rates, SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization, 40(4), 1250-1269] or Kraft(2004)[Optimal Portfolio with Stochastic Interest Rates and Defaultable Assets, Springer, Berlin].<p><p><p> / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Venture Capitals and early stage companies are of fundamental importance for how the market operates and develops. In the last decade more focus has been put on the ESG strategies and governance of organizations. However, ESG is a relatively new and complex research area in which ignorance and measurement problems have led to inconsistency in applications of ESG concepts and strategies. Based on empirical data consisting of qualitative document analysis and interviews with Swedish Venture Capitals this thesis aims, from theoretical perspectives within decision-making and ESG strategies, to investigate which ESG strategies are used among Swedish Venture Capitals investing in tech, and how these are applied in, are weighted and impact the decision-making process. The result shows that the decision making process can be assumed to be based on bounded rationality tinged by fragmented application of ESG concepts and strategies in which diversity and CO2 impact are prioritized focus areas. The common perception was also that investing in tech created a natural aligning to ESG. Active Ownership, Positive- and Negative screening are the central strategies that were applied with the aim to develop and manage the lack of information and the risks that follows with early stage investing. / Venture Capitals och early stage bolag är av fundamental betydelse för hur marknaden fungerar och utvecklas och under det senaste årtiondet har större fokus riktats mot organisationers ESG strategier och styrning. ESG är dock ett relativt nytt och komplext forskningsområde där okunskap och mätningsproblematik har lett till att begrepp och strategier tillämpas inkonsekvent. Utifrån empiri baserad på kvalitativ dokumentanalys och intervjuer från svenska Venture Capitals avser denna studie, utifrån teoretiska perspektiv inom beslutsfattande och ESG strategi, att undersöka vilka ESG strategier som används bland svenska Venture Capitals och hur de tillämpas, viktas och påverkar beslutsfattandet vid investeringar i tech. Resultatet visade att beslutsprocessen kan antas baseras på begränsad rationalitet präglad av fragmenterad tillämpning av ESG begrepp och strategier där jämställdhet och CO2 påverkan var prioriterade fokusområden. Den gemensamma bilden var även att investering i tech skapade en naturlig förankring till ESG. Active ownership, Positive- och Negative screening var de centrala strategierna som tillämpades i syfte att utveckla och hantera den informationsbrist och de risker som medföljde early stage investering.

Este trabajo se plantea la cuestión que millones de inversores se han planteado en algún momento: ¿cuál es la mejor opción para sus ahorros, fondos de inversión, inversión aleatoria o estrategias de análisis técnico? Para este propósito se describen en primer lugar las normas que regulan a las instituciones de inversión colectiva (IIC) en España, distinguiendo entre los diferentes tipos de fondos en cuanto a su forma legal. A continuación se repasan las teorías sobre eficiencia en los mercados financieros. Estas teorías se enlazan con los estilos de gestión; gestión pasiva para aquellos ortodoxos que defienden la eficiencia fuerte y gestión activa para los gestores que no toman la eficiencia como un dogma. Estos últimos creen en las anomalías de mercado y recurren a estrategias basadas en fundamentos contables (estimación de beneficios, ventas, etc.). Esta primera parte concluye con una evaluación del rendimiento de los fondos españoles según su estilo de inversión. Puesto que esta no es del todo favorable para las gestoras se intentan aportar motivos por los cuales los fondos siguen disfrutando de amplia aceptación. La segunda parte del trabajo describe la metodología empleada para estudiar el comportamiento de una cartera de inversión gestionada mediante estrategias de análisis técnico. Con este fin ha sido necesario desarrollar un software capaz de realizar la gestión de carteras y que se alimenta de cotizaciones históricas desde 1/2003 hasta 1/2012. Los datos se separan en dos estudios paralelos, uno para Europa y el otro para EE.UU con el objetivo de analizar diferencias y semejanzas. El programa permite el control completo sobre la cartera, gestión de liquidez, stop-loss, etc.; y nos abastece al mismo tiempo de una gran cantidad de información estadística. La particularidad del software es la capacidad de poder variar los parámetros de las estrategias mediante barrido, obteniendo así no solamente una única simulación sino una población de simulaciones referidas a una estrategia. En la tercera parte se recurre a este conjunto de simulaciones a las que denominaremos estudios y están compuestas por varios millones de operaciones de compra y venta. Estos estudios se aproximan a funciones normales que describen la esperanza de rentabilidades que tendría un inversor que decidiera participar en el mercado siguiendo alguna de las estrategias descritas. Para poder comparar el comportamiento de las estrategias técnicas se utilizan diferentes métodos aleatorios que pretenden simular una operativa al azar. Por último se confrontan los tres métodos de inversión: fondos, análisis técnico y aleatorio; comparados con los índices de referencia correspondientes. / Plá María, M. (2014). Evaluación del comportamiento de carteras con gestión automatizada comparada con los rendimientos de carteras aleatorias y fondos de inversión [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/38987

Today fund matching is a natural part of Swedes finance and is a popular form of savings that includes a large number of investors in the Swedish fund market. This in turn generates an increased interest in how portfolio managers should locate and acquire knowledge in portfolio selection. This gives a greater interest in how different investment strategies can be affected and generate an investors wealth to an increased level within the stock market, which gives an increased focus to be able to generate as high risk-adjusted return as possible. The study partly presents traditional theory and background on modern portfolio theory and the efficient market hypothesis. Empirical studies also present within the financial market that demonstrate the differences of opinion between how actively versus passively managed funds have performed and which investment strategy is most beneficial for investment.  The purpose of the study is to compare realized return on active versus passive funds during long term, short term and specific time periods that had a lot of economic fluctuations, like bear markets. Within the study 10 actively managed funds and two index measures are selected to be studied and compared based on their respective performance, both within its rise and fall in the Swedish fund market. The performance measures will then be applied to be able to produce the results of the study and to be able to answer whether the active fund’s have any statistically significant over- and underperformance. After conducting single index models and t-test on the 10 active funds, the result of the study shows that despite using two benchmarks index, ten different active funds, long time period, short time period or specific time periods defined by market imbalance , we still resulted in many P-values that was not statistically significant. Active funds failed to overperform against passive funds, but passive funds also failed to outperform our selection of active funds.

In this paper, market participants’ tendency to form investor herds in the stocks listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market of Sweden is examined for the period from 2018 to 2023. The models used in this study to detect herd behavior in stocks consist of two measures of dispersions, Cross-Sectional Standard Deviation of returns (CSSD) and Cross-Sectional Absolute Deviation of returns (CSAD), which were proposed by Christie and Huang (1995) and Chang, et al. (2000), respectively. An equally-weighted index consisting of all of the stocks that have traded on this market during the period is created and a quantitative analysis is conducted. Evidence showed absence of herd behavior when using both models, as well as when accounting for robustness tests consisting of small, mid-and large cap portfolios. Our results also support the prediction of rational asset pricing models, which suggest that stock return dispersions around the market returns increase during periods of market stress.