None

The objective of my two essays together is to examine whether the trades made by the insiders prior to open market repurchase (OMR) announcements contain information that can be used to identify the repurchases that are motivated by undervaluation. The existing literature on shares repurchases suggests that while undervaluation has been a dominant motive behind repurchases for past few decades, identifying these undervalued firms still remains a challenge. The book-to-market ratio is commonly used as a proxy for mispricing; however, its ability to identify undervalued repurchasing firms has recently come into doubt (Chan et al., 2004). Instead, I propose using proxies based on insider trading to identify the undervalued repurchasing firms.In the first essay, I document a relation between insider trading and both the short- and long-run stock returns of open market repurchasing firms. My findings suggest that the personal trades made by insiders prior to the OMR announcements contain information that can be used to identify undervalued repurchasing firms. I use various measures of insider trading and show that firms with high (low) insider buying (selling) prior to repurchase announcements earn abnormal stock returns in both the short- and long-run. I also find a positive (negative) relation between insider buying (selling) and the actual repurchasing activity of the firms.In my second essay, I further test whether the trades made by insiders prior to OMR announcements contain information that can be used to identify the repurchases that are motivated by undervaluation by examining the post-announcement operating performance. I find a relation between insider trading and the post-announcement operating performance for the OMR firms that is consistent with the hypothesis that insiders' trades prior to OMR announcements are informative. Specifically, I find that firms with high insider buying prior to the OMR announcements outperform their corresponding control firms, whereas, firms with low insider buying do not. In addition, I test for a relation between insider trading and (a) the accruals management around OMR announcements, and (b) the market reaction to the earnings announcements made by the OMR firms. I find a weak evidence of insiders timing their trades along with accruals management. However, the market reaction to earnings announcements made by the OMR firms does not seem to vary with level of insider trading. Overall, the evidence is consistent with insiders of repurchasing firms knowing when their stocks are undervalued and they timing both their personal and firm level trades accordingly.

Share repurchases in Sweden has since legalization in 2000 gained momentum. Similar to other corporate events, there are studies that examine whether this affects the share price performance. With studies in the U.S. that measured excess returns of approximately 3,5 percent on the announcement day; Swedish buybacks, holding a tighter regulation is of interest to study. The Stockholm Stock Exchange regulation regarding reporting is also similar to the Stock Exchange in Hong Kong. Unlike most previous research using only the announcement of a buyback, where an actual repurchase cannot be assured, the stock exchanges in this study requires disclosure on a daily basis, which means that the announcement can be linked to an actual share repurchase. The study aims to examine how the stock markets in Stockholm and Hong Kong react to share repurchases. Thereby judge whether the notice gives a negative or positive effect. The problem formulation takes the following approach: Is there abnormal returns at the announcement of share repurchases in the Stockholm stock exchange and the Hong Kong stock exchange.  The following sub questions will further be explored: Are there differences between the size of the abnormal return and industry? Is there a correlation between the abnormal returns and corporate market-to-book value? The survey is conducted through an event study, measuring abnormal return during a window of ten days prior to the announcement day and ten days after. Repurchases are studied during the period 2000-03-10 until 2011-04-10 in order to cover the entire period since legalization in Sweden. The sectors used are: industrials, financials, consumer discretionaries and information technology. Furthermore a regression analysis consisting of the variables market-to-book, divided into low and high values, and abnormal return is constructed. Through a theoretical synthesis, consisting of previous research, signaling hypotheses, the efficient market hypothesis and agency theory, the empirical data is analyzed. The conducted study shows low positive abnormal returns (AAR) for both Stockholm and Hong Kong at 0,37 percent and 0,38 percent for the announcement day respectively with a certain significance days before the announcement. Small differences exist between sectors, with financials showing highest abnormal return and consumer discretionaries the lowest in the two markets. There is furthermore a significant value between high market-to-book values and negative abnormal returns.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Prior to 30 June 1999 companies in South Africa were not allowed to buy back their own shares. Amendments to the Companies Act, the Companies Amendment Act (Act 37 of 1999) radically changed the philosophy around capital maintenance. The result of this amendment is that a company is allowed to buy back its own shares and finance the backbuying of its shares under certain circumstances. A sample of 140 companies listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange for the period 2000 to 2005 was selected. The backbuying of shares by the relevant company, subsidiary and trust was analysed for the period 2000 to 2005. For the purposes of this empirical study, the financial sector, as well as the alternative exchange, that is focussed on good quality small and medium-sized high growth companies, were excluded during sample selection. The outcome of this exploratory study is the identification of the fact that a share buyback took place or not in Tables 4.1 and 4.2; a summary of the number of shares bought back in Table 4.3; and, in Table 4.4, a summary of the number of shares bought back, expressed as a percentage of the weighted average number of shares in issue. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Maatskappye in Suid-Afrika was voor 30 Junie 1999 deur die Maatskappywet verbied om hul eie aandele terug te koop. Wysigings aan die Maatskappywet, naamlik die Wysigingswet op Maatskappye (wet 37 van 1999) het ’n radikale verandering bewerkstellig in die filosofie rakende kapitaalinstandhouding. Die gevolg van dié wysigingswetgewing is dat maatskappye sedert 30 Junie 1999 hul eie aandele kan terugkoop en in sekere omstandighede die aankoop van hul eie aandele finansier. ’n Steekproef van 140 genoteerde maatskappye op die Johannesburgse Aandelebeurs is geselekteer vir die tydperk 2000 tot 2005. Die terugkooptransaksies van aandele deur die betrokke maatskappy, filiaal en trust is opgesom vir die tydperk 2000 tot 2005. Hierdie empiriese ondersoek het die finansiële sektor, asook die alternatiewe beurs van die Johannesburgse Aandelebeurs, wat fokus op goeie kwaliteit klein en mediumgrootte maatskappye met groot groeipotensiaal, tydens die steekproefseleksie uitgesluit. Die resultate van hierdie empiriese ondersoek is die identifisering en opsomming van die terugkooptransaksies van aandele vir die steekproef in Tabelle 4.1 en 4.2; ’n opsomming in Tabel 4.3 van die getal aandele teruggekoop; en ’n opsomming in Tabel 4.4 van die getal aandele teruggekoop, uitgedruk as ’n persentasie van die gemiddelde getal uitgereikte aandele.

The amendment of the Companies Act 61 of 1973 in 1999 by Companies Amendment Act 37 of 1999 made it possible for the first time, in South Africa, for a company to acquire its own shares and for a subsidiary to acquire shares in its holding company. The position introduced by the 1999 amendments was repealed in 2011 with the coming into effect of the Companies Act 71 of 2008. I have compared capital maintenance rule under the Companies Act 61 of 1973, as amended in 1999 with capital maintenance rule under the Companies Act 71 of 2008. I have also examined in detailed the requirements to be complied with when a company acquires its shares as well as the requirements to be complied with when a subsidiary acquires shares in its holding company. Copyright / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Mercantile Law / unrestricted

民國89年6月我國立法院通過公司買回本公司股份法案，庫藏股制度正式實施，本論文之主要目的在利用市場資料，探析我國上市（櫃）公司買回庫藏股之市場反應及其資訊內涵。本研究以民國89年8月至90年2月間公告買回庫藏股之公司，及依同產業及相似買回比率配對之公司組成研究樣本，首先採事件研究法探討庫藏股法令制定與修正之相關事件日市場反應，以及宣告買回庫藏股之市場反應及其影響因素，並以關聯性研究法實證宣告買回庫藏股市場反應之資訊內涵及買回目的之影響因素。 　　在市場反應議題之主要研究發現為：（1）在庫藏股立法初期、降低操作困難度及解除指撥特別盈餘公積規定等有助於庫藏股制度之推行:投資人有正面顯著之回應；（2）宣告買回樣本之股票累積異常報酬顯著高於未宣告買回之樣本；（3）維護股東權益買回目的者之股票累積異常報酬顯著高於轉讓與員工為目的者；（4）宣告買回比率愈多市場反應愈佳；及 （5）價格回升之公司其實際執行率較低。 　　在資訊內涵議題之主要實證結果顯示，我國宣告買回庫藏股之資訊本質顯著支持企業價值低估假說，公司價值被低估程度愈高，宣告買回庫藏股之市場反應愈大。至於自由現金流量假說、資本結構調整假說及剝奪債權人假說則無法解釋我國宣告買回庫藏股之資訊內涵。在買回庫藏股目的之實證結果顯示，高淨值市價比之公司偏向以維護股東權益為買回目的，而研發活動愈密集之公司傾向以轉讓與員工為買回目的。 / The enactment of Article 28-2 of the Securities and Exchange Act on June 30, 2000 allows firms listed in Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) and Over-The-Counter (OTC) to repurchase their owner shares under certain conditions. Based on the use of a control sample design and firms listed in TSE and OTC over the period of August 2000 to February 2001, this research examines the market reaction to various events including: (1) the enactment of the law and amendment of regulations with regard to share buyback, (2) the announcement of repurchase ratio and purpose, and (3) the disclosure of actual buyback ratio. In addition, this study tests hypotheses underlying market reaction around the announcement of share repurchases in the open market. 　　The empirical findings indicate that (1) market reacts favorably to establishment of stock repurchases system, (2) cumulative abnormal return (CAR) for the share buyback announcement sample is found to be greater than that for the control sample, (3) CAR for firms aimed at retaining the interests of equity shareholders as buyback purpose is found to be higher than that for transfer to employees as purpose, (4) the higher the announced buyback ratio, the greater the market reaction, and (5) the actual buyback ratio is less for firms with stock price recovery. 　　This study also finds undervaluation hypothesis explains the market reaction on the announcement date. With respect to the disclosure of share buyback purposes, the analysis indicates that firms with higher book-to-market ratio are more likely to announce protecting shareholders equity as the buyback purpose, whilst firms with higher demand for research & development activities are prone to announce transfer shares to their employees as the buyback purpose.

This paper investigates the long-run market effects of open market share repurchase programs, specifically focusing on the influence of firm size (market capitalization) and market-to-book ratio on long-run abnormal returns. The study utilizes data from financial databases, including Nasdaq Stockholm and Eikon, as well as information from initiation announcements and other publicly available documents provided by firms listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange from 2015 to 2022. The findings of the study reveal that the completion of open market repurchase programs does not exhibit a significant impact on the long-term abnormal return of Swedish firms. Additionally, the study indicates that firm size and market-to-book ratio do not exert a substantial influence on the long-run abnormal return. Previous studies on the subject all show a positive abnormal return associated with the announcement of open market share repurchase program. However, this study diverges from previous research by focusing on the impact after the completion date. Consequently, it can be concluded that there is no significant effect on the long-run abnormal return following the completion of an open market share repurchase program, as the market has already incorporated the impact during the announcement phase, thereby reflecting it in the stock price at the completion date. / I början av 2000-talet blev det lagligt för svenska börsnoterade bolag att köpa tillbaka sina egna aktier. Lagändringen medförde en ny möjlighet för företag att föra tillbaka överskottslikviditet tillaktieägarna. Flertalet svenska och internationella studier har dokumenterat marknadens reaktion vid annonserandet av ett aktieåterköpsprogram, denna studie är först med att undersökamarknadsreaktionen efter avslutade aktieåterköpsprogram. I uppsatsen undersöks sambandet mellan avslutade aktieåterköpsprogram och avvikelseavkastning på lång sikt genom Buy-and-hold-abnormal-return (BHAR). Uppsatsen fokuserar på företag noterade på Nasdaq Stockholm, vilka genomfört minst ett aktieåterköpsprogram under perioden 2015–2022. Studien syftar till att undersöka marknadsreaktionen efter avslutade återköpsprogram på den svenska marknaden. Därtill är syftet att undersöka hur market-to-book kvoten (M/B) och börsvärdet (BV) påverkar avvikelseavkastningen efter avslutat aktieåterköpsprogram på 3, 6 och 12 månaders sikt.Studien har samlat in information och data över återköpen genom Nasdaq, Eikon Refinitiv samt företagens finansiella rapporter och pressmeddelanden. Studiens resultat dokumenterar att det inte finns några signifikanta samband mellan avslutade aktieåterköpsprogram och företags BHAR på3,6 och 12 månaders sikt. Vidare kunde inga statistiskt signifikanta samband säkerställas mellanföretagens M/B kvot respektive börsvärde och BHAR.I slutsatsen diskuteras skillnaden mellan tidigare studiers resultat och resultaten från denna uppsats.Tidigare studier dokumenterar en signifikant positiv avvikelseavkastning, något som skiljer sig från resultaten i denna uppsats. En möjlig förklaring till skillnaden i resultaten är att de tidigare studierna utgår från dagen då aktieåterköpsprogram annonseras. Den marginella avvikelseavkastning i denna studie kan förklaras genom att marknadens reaktion främst sker vid annonseringen av aktieåterköpsprogrammet, och att reaktionen redan prisats in vid tidpunkten för avslutat aktieåterköpsprogram. Resultatet är i linje med tidigare studier på ämnet som visar att den positiva avvikelseavkastning kan kopplas till signalteorin. Studiens resultat kan användas som underlag för att bygga ytterligare kunskap om aktieåterköpsprogram på den svenska marknaden.