Significant Cumulative Abnormal Returns Research Articles

The value effect of sustainability: evidence from Latin American ESG bond market

ABSTRACT We use the event study methodology to examine the effect of 115 environmental, social, and governance (ESG) bond issuances on the stock price of Latin American listed firms over the period 2016–2022. Consistent with the signaling theory, firms sending a signal of commitment to sustainability obtain a positive and significant average Cumulative Abnormal Return (CAR) of 1.97% during an event window of 18 days. The CAR is higher for first-time issuers, reaching 2.28%. Firms with smaller and more diverse boards are associated with higher CARs. However, ownership concentration reduces the CARs due to the potential misbehavior and expropriation risk from controlling shareholders. These results suggest that firm-level corporate governance mechanisms are critical to the ESG bonds signaling effect. Overall, our findings indicate that investors in Latin American capital markets positively value the reduction of information asymmetries regarding firms’ sustainability efforts, especially in a firm that mitigates potential agency conflicts.

De-risking pension plans: the impact on firm value from lump-sum buyouts

Firms have attempted to de-risk their pension obligations by offering its pension beneficiaries a lump-sum distribution instead of the guaranteed payments to be paid to retirees in a defined benefit pension plan. We examine the stock market reaction to the announcement of these offerings using event study methodologies. We find a statistically significant positive cumulative abnormal returns for the 20-day period prior to the event, the 20-day period after the event, and for the entire 41-day event period surrounding the announcement. We also find that the cumulative abnormal returns are higher the more liabilities a firm has and increases with the level of funding of the pension plan. Our results contribute to the literature on pensions by finding that firms that buy out their pensioners’ defined benefit payments via a lump-sum distribution experience an increase in firm value. There is a significant amount of analysis of such buyouts in the literature and in the press, but our results are the first to examine and document the increase in value derived from such pension changes. We also more fully develop the motivations for such events from a cost/benefit perspective.

Information transfer of CEO turnover: Evidence from firm-CEO mismatch

We investigate intra-industry information transfer to news of a significant corporate event, forced CEO turnover. Intra-industry information transfer occurs when announcements made by one or more firms in an industry contemporaneously affect stock prices of peer firms. We find results strongly consistent with information transfer in response to forced CEO turnover, as evidenced by significant cumulative abnormal returns for industry peer firms around the time of a turnover announcement. We further document that information transfer is stronger to turnovers that signal a firm-CEO mismatch prompted by changing industry conditions (Eisfeldt and Kuhnen 2013). Considering two moderating factors, we find weaker (stronger) information transfer when the CEO was replaced with an outsider (the announcing firm is an industry leader), providing additional evidence that forced CEO turnover at one firm can be indicative of industry-wide changes. Our study has important implications to financial analysts, investors, and boards of directors in assessing changing industry conditions in light of a forced CEO turnover at a peer firm.

Timing is key: When does the market react to unionization efforts?

We estimate short-term capital-market effects of unionization efforts at publicly-listed firms and their subsidiaries in the United States between 2011 and 2019. Our short-horizon event study reports significant negative average cumulative abnormal returns at the public announcement of successful union election certifications. Our results suggest that, on average, the market perceives successful unionization as detrimental to future firm performance, expects unionization efforts, and mainly reacts when all uncertainty is resolved at the publicly-announced certification. Finally, we show that shareholders’ expectations regarding unionization efforts differ for firms with recurrent and rare election cases.

UK, US, and China’s Stock Market Reactions to The Russia-Ukraine War: An Inspection across Industries

The Russia-Ukraine crisis is expected to have a considerable impact on the global economy. By applying the event study approach, we examine the effect of the war on the UK, the US, and China across ten major industries over different lengths of the event window around 22 February 2022. The observed significant cumulative abnormal returns (CAR) in specific industries, along with the differences between nations, are comprehensively analyzed with actual situations faced by each country. Through comparisons, the UK is concluded to be mainly more affected by the crisis than the US and China, especially in the material, information technology, and consumer staples industries. Notably, all three countries are observed to have positive and significant CARs across the event window, which provides strong evidence of the adverse impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on the global energy supply. In other industries, the harmful effects of the crisis vary from countries. This study could provide a new, broad inspection of the ongoing crisis at a macro level and a substantial information reference for policymakers.

The impact of GDPR infringement fines on the market value of firms

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the impact of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) infringement fine announcements on the market value of mostly European publicly listed companies with a view to reinforcing the importance of data privacy compliance, thereby informing cyber security investment strategies for organisations.Design/methodology/approachPrevious studies have shown (varying degrees of) evidence of a negative impact of data breach announcements on the share price of publicly listed companies. Following on from this research, further studies have been carried out in assessing the economic impact of the introduction of legislation in this area to encourage firms to invest in cyber security and protect the privacy of data subjects. Existing research has been predominantly US centric.FindingsUsing event study techniques, a data set of 25 GDPR fine announcement events was analysed, and statistically significant cumulative abnormal returns of around 1% on average up to three days after the event were identified. In almost all cases, this negative economic impact on market value far outweighed the monetary value of the fine itself, and relatively minor fines could result in major market valuation losses for companies, even those having large market capitalisations.Originality/valueThis research would be of benefit to business management, practitioners of cyber security, investors and shareholders as well as researchers in cyber security or related fields (pointers to future research are given). Data protection authorities may also find this work of interest.

The Effect of Positive and Negative Events on Cryptocurrency Prices

In recent years, cryptocurrencies have become a new topic for financial studies. In this study, the effects of positive and negative events related to cryptocurrencies on the prices of related cryptocurrencies were researched using the event study. These events include major listing, delisting and airdrop announcements, and SEC enforcements. As a result of the analysis, 22 significant abnormal return values related to negative events and eight significant abnormal return values related to positive events were determined at 1% significance level within the event window (-5, +10). Therefore, it has been determined that negative events have more effect on cryptocurrencies than positive events. The number of significant cumulative abnormal return values obtained (13 for negative events, three for positive events) also supports these results. The results of the study have crucial implications for investors, centralized cryptocurrency exchanges, and cryptocurrency CEOs. Even after the negative events were announced publicly, pull out of the market will prevent investors from making more losses. In addition, it is recommended that investors sell for profits in case of a rapid high return on the day of the listing announcement. Because it was determined that the prices returned to the equilibrium prices at the closing.

Impact of CISO Appointment Announcements on the Market Value of Firms

Previous studies concerning the economic impact of security events on publicly listed companies have focussed on the negative effect of data breaches and cyberattacks with a view to encouraging firms to improve their cyber security posture to avoid such incidents. This paper is an initial study on the impact of investment in human capital related to security, specifically appointments of chief information security officers (CISO), chief security officers (CSO) or similar overall head of security roles. Using event study techniques, a dataset of 37 CISO type appointment announcements spanning multiple world markets between 2012 and 2019 was analysed and statistically significant (at the 5% level) positive cumulative abnormal returns (CAR) of around 0.8% on average were observed over the three-day period before, during and after the announcement. Furthermore, this positive CAR was found to be highest, at nearly 1.8% on average, within the financial services sector and showing statistical significance at the 1% level. In addition to the industry sector, other characteristics were investigated such as job title, reporting structure, comparison of internal versus external appointments, gender and variations between markets. Although these findings were not as conclusive they are, nevertheless, good pointers for future research in this area. This overall positive market reaction to CISO related announcements is a strong case for publicly listed firms to be transparent in such appointments and to, perhaps, review where that function sits within their organisation to ensure it delivers the greatest benefits. As 24% of the firms analysed were listed outside the US, this study also begins to counter the strong US bias seen in similar and related studies. This research is expected to be of interest to business management, cyber security practitioners, investors and shareholders as well as researchers in cyber security or related fields.

The Market Impact of New Auditing Standards in China

To improve audit reports' transparency and information content, China implemented new auditing standards in 2017. The standards, which include disclosing key audit matters, were applied to A+H share companies in 2017 and A-share companies in 2018. This paper uses A+H-share companies as the experimental group and A-share companies as the control group and applies the difference-in-differences method to test the market response to the new auditing standards. We find a statistically significant positive cumulative abnormal return (CAR) during the report release event window for the A+H share companies. The results indicate a greater investor reaction to the release of audit reports under the new standards implying that the audit reforms enhanced the information of the reports. Furthermore, the positive CAR indicates that the reports reassured investors that the audit did not reveal significant problems or that existing weaknesses were addressed. We also found a statistically insignificant difference in the volatility of stock prices during the event window for the experimental and control group.

How Has the Indonesian Stock Market Performed During Covid-19 Outbreaks?

This paper analyzes the stock market reaction towards the Covid-19 pandemic by using a sample of Indonesian listed firms. In general, we document a significant negative cumulative abnormal returns when the Indonesian President announces the first case of Covid-19 in Indonesia. This effect remains ten days (weaker) after the announcement. However, we only find a short-term effect on the finance industry. While the explanation is still unclear, the investors may observe that the economic impact on the finance industry may arise in the long-run.

Effect of Mergers and Acquisitions on Stock Returns: Evidence from a Frontier Market

This study examines the mergers and acquisitions on stock returns in the Sri Lankan context. The main objective of this study is to investigate the effects of mergers and acquisitions on stock returns of Sri Lankan companies and establish whether there is any relationship between mergers and acquisitions on stock returns. For the intended purposes, the impact of mergers and acquisitions on stock returns, the secondary data is used from 10 listed companies for the period from 2010 to 2019. The event study methodology is used to examine the reaction of investors to the announcement of mergers and acquisitions. The event window was 80 days, which is 40 days before and after the announcement date. The result indicates that mergers and acquisitions announcements generate positive significant Cumulative average abnormal returns (CAAR) at the event date. However, after the event date, acquirer companies exhibit very low CAAR close to zero or sometimes negative value and not statistically significant. Thus, findings suggest that the shareholders' reaction to the information content of mergers and acquisitions limited to event day. After the announcement date, the CAAR takes a gradual declining trend.
 Keywords: Acquisition, Colombo Stock Exchange, Event Study analysis, Merger, Stock Return

The Covid-19’s Impact on Stock Prices among Different Sectors - An Event Study Based on the Istanbul Stock Exchange Market

The Covid-19 pandemic has deeply affected our health and social life as well as the financial markets. Although the global economic effects of the coronavirus are not yet clear, it is observed that there is a reaction in the financial markets to the developments related to the pandemic. Studies show that the pandemic has strong impact on stock markets and increases uncertainty. The purpose of this study is to examine whether the stock prices of companies traded on the Istanbul Stock Exchange Market between 02.14.2019 and 04.01.2020 are affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. In this context, the stock prices of the six major sectors traded and thought to be affected in Istanbul Stock Exchange Market during the period examined were analyzed using the "event study" method of the effects of Corona virus. In the analysis, the event window was taken as (- 15, + 15) trading days. The effects of the Corona virus in the relevant period were examined separately for each company in the selected sectors, and after calculating the abnormal returns, the effect on the average abnormal returns and cumulative abnormal returns were analyzed. According to the research results; when the general picture of selected sectors in Covid-19 is examined, statistically significant negative average cumulative abnormal returns are obtained. According to these results, Istanbul Stock Exchange has affected by Covid-19 pandemic during the period under examination.

Media exposure on corporate social irresponsibility and firm performance

This study investigates the impact of media exposure of corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) events on firm performances. Using unique data from an emerging market, we find that CSI events trigger significant and negative cumulative abnormal returns (CARs). Negative CARs are more profound for environment and safety issues as well as illegal violations. The existence of CSI events has negative impact on the subject firm's long-term operating and financial performances due to reputation damage and extra costs for regulatory compliance and rebuilding reputation. Furthermore, the number of CSI reports is negatively associated with firm performance and positively correlated with stock price crash risk. The negative effect is more profound for CSI events reported by the media than those self-reported by subject firms due to regulations. Our findings support the conjecture that media can serve as an external corporate governance mechanism, especially in emerging markets where well established governance structure is not yet available.

Are sports sponsorship announcements good news for shareholders? A meta-analysis

The number of studies on the marketing–finance interface has escalated in response to increased interest in the value of marketing investments, such as sports sponsorship. This study integrates current research findings and establishes empirical generalizations on how sports sponsorship announcements impact firm value. The empirical literature finds contradicting results on the value shareholders place on these marketing investments. This paper addresses this issue by undertaking a meta-analysis on stock reactions to sport sponsorship announcements, using 3192 of these announcements taken from 36 studies (41 samples). On aggregate, these announcements drew the attention of shareholders since there was a positive and significant cumulative abnormal return (CAR). However, this positive effect was mostly observed in the 1990s and became negative in the 2000s. Overall, shareholders viewed sports sponsorship investments favorably when there was a functional and geographical congruence between sponsors and sponsees. This paper also shows that the differences in the CAR can be explained by controlling for confounding events and host country. The paper concludes by providing potential avenues for further research in sports sponsorship, using the event study method.

Abnormal Returns around Mergers and Acquisitions in the Nepali Stock Market

A merger includes two relatively equal entities that are combined to form one legal entity worth more than a sum of its two separate parts. In the last few years, many Nepali financial institutions have been consolidating through mergers and acquisitions. This paper aims to investigate how the stock market reacts when financial institutions announce mergers and acquisitions. This paper also examines the impact of cross-sectional variables on the abnormal returns obtained around merger announcements. The study covers 22 successful merger deals that occurred among 48 financial institutions over the period of 2004 to 2013. This paper used the event study method based on the market model to derive abnormal returns associated around the merger announcement date. The event dates are specified as the dates on which the mergers and acquisitions were announced. The results show that leaving a very few exceptional cases, none of the merged financial institutions received significant cumulative abnormal returns on the merger announcements, regardless of the use of different event periods. The cross-sectional regressions show that the pre-merger performance of target and relative market value are the significant influencing variables on acquirers' cumulative abnormal returns. The finding implies that Nepali financial institutions merge merely to increase their capital base without producing any synergistic effect. Therefore, they need strategic plans for choosing the right partner and achieving other benefits like synergy effect, economies of scale and cost reduction from mergers and acquisitions.

Asymmetric information and opportunism in insider share-pledging

PurposeAmid growing attention from investors, regulators and advisory firms in recent years, this study assesses whether managers exploit private information to time share-pledge transactions and extract personal benefits while avoiding unintended market scrutiny.Design/methodology/approachWe use hand-collected pledging data for a random sample of S&P 1500 firms to examine whether private information influences insider share-pledging activity using Heckman selection and two-part hurdle models of the pledge decision. We also conduct an event study analysis of announcement returns to measure market reactions to pledging news and determine whether share-pledge disclosures affect investor risk assessments.FindingsConsistent with insiders timing pledges prior to anticipated performance declines, both the likelihood and level of pledging increase significantly with negative earnings surprises. New share-pledges precede significant decreases in abnormal returns, and public announcement of new pledging corresponds with significant negative cumulative abnormal returns. The evidence suggests that insiders exploit private information to time pledges, and that investors update risk assessments and value estimates based on information conveyed by these transactions.Practical implicationsOur findings hold important implications for governance and regulation of pledged shares, indicating that permissive reporting requirements in the US facilitate informed pledging and may undermine incentive alignment between managers and shareholders. The analysis promotes transaction-specific disclosures and transparent corporate policies for insider share-pledging.Originality/valueOurs is among the first empirical analyses of share-pledging in US firms and the first to examine the role of private information in pledging decisions. We offer novel evidence on the opportunistic use of pledged shares and provide insight to predictors of share-pledging behavior.

Informational Advantage of Institutional Blockholders

This study investigates whether institutional investors with large ownership (institutional blockholders) have informational advantages over other investors. The sample of this study is constructed from institutional investors’ mandatory filings on block shareholding of greater than 5% of a firm’s shares. Institutional blockholders are classified into active institutions if they express an intention to engage in a firm’s management as their purpose of investment and into passive institutions otherwise. To verify the information content of block ownership, this study investigates the short- and long-term market reaction to announcements of institutional investors’ block ownership. Main findings are summarized as follows. First, significant cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) are observed around the announcements. The CARs are much higher for active institutions than passive institutions. Second, the stocks owned by passive asset management companies significantly outperform both the market and the benchmark portfolio in the long-term. In contrast, the stocks owned by active private investment companies significantly underperform the benchmark portfolio. Overall, the results of this study suggest that passive asset management companies have superior skills in selecting undervalued stocks and they use long-lived information when they make large investment. In contrast, the inconsistent results on short- and long-term performance of stocks owned by active private investment companies imply that private investment companies’ activism are not effective enough to meet the initial expectations of the market.

Impact of ETF Listing on the Returns Generated by Underlying Stocks: Indian Evidence

The advent of exchange traded funds (ETFs) has rendered index trading much affordable compared to their futures counterparts. The present study attempts to examine the impact of ETF listing on the price of the constituent securities of the index that it aims to track. The sample comprises of all the equity ETFs listed in India from 1 January 2002 to 31 March 2019. Event study analysis has been used to examine whether listing of ETFs bore any price impact on the constituent stocks of ETFs. To account for robustness, both parametric and non-parametric tests have been employed. The estimates obtained from event study analysis revealed that the constituent stocks generated insignificant returns for the period extending from January 2002 to March 2009 and April 2009 to March 2013 but positive and significant cumulative average abnormal returns (CAARs) post ETF listing for the period ranging from April 2013 to March 2019, thus providing evidence in support of positive price impact. The permission granted to pension funds, insurers and Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to invest their funds in ETFs as well as reduction in Securities Transaction Tax (STT) account for the observed price differential. An analysis of the factors accounting for the variation in valuation effects ascertained that the stocks that were traded thinly prior to ETF listing and those forming part of ETFs with larger asset base experienced positive price impact following ETF listing. JEL Codes: G11, G14

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND STOCK MARKET REACTION TO SEASONED EQUITY OFFERING ANNOUNCEMENT BY FIRMS IN NIGERIA

This study examined the effect of corporate governance variables of board independence, institutional ownership, managerial ownership, board size, and director expertise on the market reaction to seasoned equity offering (SEO) announcements by firms in the Nigerian stock market. The event study methodology was employed, and abnormal returns were computed using the market model. A total of 62 announcements by 38 firms listed on the Nigerian stock exchange from 1st January 2006 to 31st December 2016 were included in the analysis. The study recorded significant positive cumulative abnormal returns before and after the announcement day, and a significant negative cumulative abnormal return upon the announcement day of SEOs. Similarly, significant positive cumulative abnormal returns were recorded six months before the SEO announcement day and negative significant cumulative abnormal returns six, twelve, and twenty-four months after the announcements. Furthermore, there were significant cumulative abnormal returns upon SEO announcements for all the proxies of corporate governance assessed by the study. The implication of the findings of negative significant cumulative abnormal returns on the day of the announcement and beyond was consistent with previous arguments that firms issuing SEOs earn negative abnormal returns on the day of the announcement was the result of the information asymmetry between managers and investors. By contrast, the significant cumulative abnormal returns based on corporate governance suggested that corporate governance significantly impacted on SEO announcement returns in Nigeria. These findings suggest that policy makers should pay more attention to directors’ expertise, institutional ownership, board independence, and board size, as our results showed that investors might view them as dependable pointers of positive corporate information for the market, thus guaranteeing the best use of SEO proceeds.

Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange Market: Operations and Efficiency

This paper presents an up-to-date account of market operations of the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange and examines its informational efficiency in recent years. The daily closing prices and rates of return of VN Index – the major market index of Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange and 10 stocks chosen from different sectors are employed, from 2 January 2018 to 31 December 2019, to investigate the random walk hypothesis of market efficiency using the Lo-MacKinlay variance ratio test and Chow-Denning multiple variance ratio test. Our results show that the market index and individual sample stocks conform to the null hypothesis of a random walk type 3 model of a weak form market efficiency. The paper also presents the results of an Event Study to examine the semi-strong form market efficiency of the HOSE. The empirical results on this type indicate that there are significant abnormal returns and significant cumulative abnormal returns by trading the stocks around the events. These results are inconsistent with the requirements of a semi-strong form market efficiency, and it thus appears that further improvements in transmission of information and its speed within this market are needed to further improve the efficiency of this emerging market.