Access to adequate liquidity to finance future investments is an essential element of financial management. The two main questions that this dissertation attempts to answer are (i) what is the net valuation effect of LoC? and (ii) if LoC create value, what are the sources of this value? To answer these questions, I constructed a sample of 85,232 firm-years spanning from 1993 to 2016, with credit line data obtained from Capital IQ and Bloomberg. I investigated the valuation effects of LoC with a methodology extensively used in the analysis of the valuation implications of cash. I used this methodology because cash and LoC are two alternatives to manage liquidity and estimated the changes in shareholders' value associated with changes in existing LoC undrawn balances and on new LoC agreements. The results from this analysis demonstrates a positive association between increases in LoC capacity and shareholder's value. These findings are also obtained in univariate and event study analyses. The results also suggest that LoC create more value for firms that are rich in cash, indicating the LoC and cash are complementary liquidity management tools. I then focused on the sources of the value created by credit lines. I examined whether information asymmetry plays a role in LoC valuation by analyzing the association between firm value and LoC for firms with high- and low-information asymmetric. I also studied whether LoCs reduce agency problems by comparing firm value and LoC capacity in both poorly and well-governed firms. Furthermore, I examined whether firms benefit from an increase in financial flexibility provided by access to credit lines. I found results consistent with LoC being more valuable for firms with higher levels of informational asymmetries. The analysis also suggests that LoCs with longer maturity create more value than those with shorter maturity. Surprisingly, I find limited support for the hypothesis that shareholders place a higher value on LoCs in increasing financial flexibility. Moreover, I found no support for the role of credit lines in reducing agency problems.

循著時光的隧道，自二十世紀初以來，全球企業併購的熱潮方興未艾，時至今日「併購」已為一般人所熟知，併購的型態更演變出多種樣貌。本文以敵意併購為基調，蒐集全球2000年至2015年樣本，研究結果顯示，敵意併購之宣告對主併公司股東短期有不利之影響，若目標公司採取防禦策略時，對主併公司股東而言亦不利。故如果一公司欲發動敵意併購時，需考量目標公司是否有防禦措施的設置，惟此結果未達顯著水準。 此外本研究亦針對敵意併購下主併公司股東的異常報酬，探討影響股東異常報酬的原因，實證結果得知，併購溢價越高，對於主併公司股東顯著不利，驗證「贏家的詛咒」理論，亦即併購溢價越多，將使得主併公司持股人的財富移轉至目標公司身上，對主併方股東有不利之影響。 / The trend of Merger and Acquisition is booming as of 20th century and the pattern has become variable and complicated. In this study, hostile takeover, one of the focal point on the subject of M&A, is to be discussed. Samples are collected from 2000 to 2015 globally by SDC platinum. Result shows that hostile takeover activity does not benefit shareholders’ interest of the acquiring firm. If the target firm adopts defensive tactics, situation will be worse. Therefore, as the bidding firm, it has to considered whether there are defensive tactics against hostile takeover in the target. While these aren’t significant result. Furthermore, this paper attempts to find the factors which would affect shareholders’ abnormal return under hostile takeover, and result shows M&A premium significantly does. The higher of M&A premium, the more unfavorable to the shareholders’ interest of the acquiring firm. It supports the theory of “winner’s curse”. That is, as M&A premium increases, shareholders’ wealth of the acquiring company is expected to transfer to the targets more which is adverse to the shareholders of the acquiring one.

Dividend policy is widely researched in financial management, but determining whether it affects the market price per share is difficult. There has been much published on the subject, which presented theories such as the Modigliani, Miller, Gordon, Lintner, Walter and Richardson propositions and the relevance and irrelevance theories. However, little research has been done on the impact of dividend policy on shareholders’ wealth while considering the short- and long-run effects. The Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) was used to describe the short-run and long-run dynamics or the adjustment of the cointegrated variables towards their equilibrium values in South Africa. This study attempts to explain the effect of dividend policy on the market price per share. A sample of 46 companies listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) was selected for the period 1995-2010. Three variables were used, namely the market price per share, the dividend per share and the earnings per share. The market price per share was used as a proxy in measuring shareholders’ wealth and the dividend per share was used as a proxy in measuring the dividend policy. Fixed and random effects models were applied to panel data to determine the relation between dividend policy and market price per share. The fixed effects method was used to control the stable characteristics of the companies over a fixed period. The random effects model was applied when the companies’ characteristics differed. Results for both models indicated that dividend yield is positively related to market price per share, while earnings per share do not have a significant impact on the market price per share. To test the strength of the long-run relationship, the VECM was applied. The coefficient for dividend per share in the co-integrating equation was positive, while the coefficient for earnings per share was negative. This confirms previous research findings. The results suggest that there is a long-run relationship between dividend per share and market price per share. The Granger causality test indicates there is bi-directional Granger causality between market price per share and dividend per share in South Africa. Therefore dividend policy does have a significant long-run impact on the share price and therefore provides a signal about the company’s financial success. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Financial Management / Unrestricted