IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/chieco/v19y2008i4p567-579.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Distress and restructuring in China: Does ownership matter?

Author

Listed:
  • Kam, Amy
  • Citron, David
  • Muradoglu, Gulnur

Abstract

We investigate the market impact of restructuring announcements made by distressed firms in China. We show that ownership structure is an important determinant of the strength of firms and their survival following distress. For example, mergers and acquisitions are value-enhancing only for competitive firms that are privately owned and when cash payment is involved. Mergers and acquisitions among state-owned enterprises by transferring the controlling ownership, either with or without payment, are not value-enhancing. Also, debt governance is not at work among state-owned enterprises and thus debt-related restructuring is not value-enhancing either. Asset sales are not perceived positively by the market either for competitive or for state-owned firms. This is due to the regulatory environment and lack of effective bankruptcy threat in China; avoiding bankruptcy costs does not add value when bankruptcy is not a powerful threat. The fundamental conclusion is that government ownership has an adverse impact on the distress-resolution process as it distorts resource allocation, management incentives and investment decisions in a liberalised and competitive environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Kam, Amy & Citron, David & Muradoglu, Gulnur, 2008. "Distress and restructuring in China: Does ownership matter?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 567-579, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:19:y:2008:i:4:p:567-579
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043-951X(08)00062-X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kahl, Matthias, 2001. "Financial Distress as a Selection Mechanism: Evidence from the United States," University of California at Los Angeles, Anderson Graduate School of Management qt0dg192r9, Anderson Graduate School of Management, UCLA.
    2. Allen, Franklin & Qian, Jun & Qian, Meijun, 2005. "Law, finance, and economic growth in China," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 57-116, July.
    3. David E. M. Sappington & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1987. "Privatization, information and incentives," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 6(4), pages 567-585.
    4. Grossman, Sanford J & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1980. "On the Impossibility of Informationally Efficient Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 393-408, June.
    5. Warner, Jerold B. & Watts, Ross L. & Wruck, Karen H., 1988. "Stock prices and top management changes," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 461-492, January.
    6. Paul Asquith & Robert Gertner & David Scharfstein, 1994. "Anatomy of Financial Distress: An Examination of Junk-Bond Issuers," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(3), pages 625-658.
    7. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    8. Roland, Gerard & Sekkat, Khalid, 2000. "Managerial career concerns, privatization and restructuring in transition economies," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(10), pages 1857-1872, December.
    9. Oliver Hart & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1997. "The Proper Scope of Government: Theory and an Application to Prisons," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 112(4), pages 1127-1161.
    10. Jim Lai & Sudi Sudarsanam, 1997. "Corporate Restructuring in Response to Performance Decline: Impact of Ownership, Governance and Lenders," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 1(2), pages 197-233.
    11. Ofek, Eli, 1993. "Capital structure and firm response to poor performance: An empirical analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 3-30, August.
    12. Denis, David J & Denis, Diane K, 1995. "Performance Changes Following Top Management Dismissals," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(4), pages 1029-1057, September.
    13. Boycko, Maxim & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1996. "A Theory of Privatisation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(435), pages 309-319, March.
    14. Wruck, Karen Hopper, 1990. "Financial distress, reorganization, and organizational efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 419-444, October.
    15. McCahery, Joseph A. & Moerland, Piet & Raaijmakers, Theo & Renneboog, Luc (ed.), 2002. "Corporate Governance Regimes: Convergence and Diversity," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199247875, Decembrie.
    16. M. Ameziane Lasfer & Puliyur S. Sundarsanam & Richard J. Taffler, 1996. "Financial Distress, Asset Sales and Lender Monitoring," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 25(3), Fall.
    17. Amy Kam & David Citron & Gulnur Muradoglu, 2010. "Financial distress resolution in China – two case studies," Qualitative Research in Financial Markets, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 2(2), pages 46-79, June.
    18. Brown, David T. & James, Christopher M. & Mooradian, Robert M., 1994. "Asset sales by financially distressed firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 233-257, August.
    19. Denis, David J. & Kruse, Timothy A., 2000. "Managerial discipline and corporate restructuring following performance declines," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 391-424, March.
    20. Clarke, Donald C., 2003. "Corporate governance in China: An overview," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 494-507.
    21. Clark, Kent & Ofek, Eli, 1994. "Mergers as a Means of Restructuring Distressed Firms: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 29(4), pages 541-565, December.
    22. Asquith, Paul & Mullins, David Jr., 1986. "Equity issues and offering dilution," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1-2), pages 61-89.
    23. Shapiro, C. & Willing, D.R., 1990. "Economic Rationales For The Scope Of Privatization," Papers 41, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Discussion Paper.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Franklin Allen & Jun & Chenying Zhang & Mengxin Zhao, 2012. "China's Financial System: Opportunities and Challenges," NBER Chapters, in: Capitalizing China, pages 63-143, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Dong, Liping & Uchida, Konari & Hou, Xiaohong, 2020. "Are future capital gain opportunities important in the market for corporate control? Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    3. Mo, Phyllis L.L. & Rui, Oliver M. & Wu, Xi, 2015. "Auditors' going Concern Reporting in the pre- and post-bankruptcy Law Eras: Chinese Affiliates of Big 4 Versus Local Auditors," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 1-30.
    4. Bhattacharjee, Arnab & Han, Jie, 2014. "Financial distress of Chinese firms: Microeconomic, macroeconomic and institutional influences," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 244-262.
    5. Yu He & Lei Xu & Minhua Yang, 2021. "The impact of tunnelling on financial distress and resolution: Evidence from listed firms in China," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 1773-1792, April.
    6. Chi, Jing & Sun, Qian & Young, Martin, 2011. "Performance and characteristics of acquiring firms in the Chinese stock markets," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 152-170, June.
    7. Barbieri, Elisa & Huang, Manli & Pi, Shenglei & Pollio, Chiara & Rubini, Lauretta, 2021. "Investigating the linkages between industrial policies and M&A dynamics: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    8. Sanjay Sehgal & Ritesh Kumar Mishra & Ajay Jaisawal, 2021. "A search for macroeconomic determinants of corporate financial distress," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 435-461, December.
    9. Hanene Ezzine, 2018. "Corporate governance and social norms during financial crisis: evidence from France and Saudi Arabia," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 22(3), pages 707-748, September.
    10. Zan Yang & Ying Fan & Song Shi & Jing Liao, 2018. "Political Connections and Corporate Borrowing: an Analysis on the Listed Real Estate Firms in China," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 315-350, October.
    11. Zhou, Fangzhao & Zhang, Zenan & Yang, Jun & Su, Yunpeng & An, Yunbi, 2018. "Delisting pressure, executive compensation, and corporate fraud: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 17-34.
    12. Jonek Kowalska, Izabela, 2015. "Challenges for long-term industry restructuring in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin: What has Polish coal mining achieved and failed from a twenty-year perspective?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 135-149.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lars Schweizer & Andreas Nienhaus, 2017. "Corporate distress and turnaround: integrating the literature and directing future research," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 10(1), pages 3-47, June.
    2. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    3. Yawson, Alfred, 2009. "Interaction effects of restructuring decisions on operating profit following performance shocks," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 216-237.
    4. Amy Kam & David Citron & Gulnur Muradoglu, 2010. "Financial distress resolution in China – two case studies," Qualitative Research in Financial Markets, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 2(2), pages 46-79, June.
    5. Alex Edmans & William Mann, 2019. "Financing Through Asset Sales," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(7), pages 3043-3060, July.
    6. Kang, Jun-Koo & Shivdasani, Anil, 1997. "Corporate restructuring during performance declines in Japan," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 29-65, October.
    7. Alberto Cavaliere & Simona Scabrosetti, 2008. "Privatization And Efficiency: From Principals And Agents To Political Economy," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 685-710, September.
    8. Giuseppe Cinquegrana & Serena Migliardo & Domenico Sarno, 2016. "Comparative analysis of private and public provision of the water and waste services by the Italian municipalities," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(3), pages 149-176.
    9. Martynova, M., 2006. "The market for corporate control and corporate governance regulation in Europe," Other publications TiSEM 8651e281-4914-41f2-ac14-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    10. Sebastian Steinker & Mario Pesch & Kai Hoberg, 2016. "Inventory management under financial distress: an empirical analysis," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(17), pages 5182-5207, September.
    11. Willner, Johan & Parker, David, 2002. "The Relative Performance of Public and Private Enterprise Under Conditions of Active and Passive Ownership," Centre on Regulation and Competition (CRC) Working papers 30591, University of Manchester, Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM).
    12. Miriam Flickinger & Miriam Zschoche, 2018. "Corporate divestiture and performance: an institutional view," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 22(1), pages 111-131, March.
    13. Alexander Radygin & Revold Entov & Marina Turuntseva & Alena Gontmakher & Harry Swain & Jeff Carruthers & Karen Minden & Cheryl Urban, 2002. "The problems of corporate governance in Russia and its regions," Published Papers 12, Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy, revised 2002.
    14. Jostarndt, Philipp & Sautner, Zacharias, 2008. "Financial distress, corporate control, and management turnover," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 2188-2204, October.
    15. Martynova, M. & Oosting, S. & Renneboog, L.D.R., 2006. "The Long-Term Operating Performance of European Mergers and Acquisitions," Discussion Paper 2006-111, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    16. Dyck, I. J. Alexander & Wruck, Karen Hopper, 1998. "Organization structure, contract design and government ownership: A clinical analysis of German privatization1," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 265-299, September.
    17. A. Jorge Padilla & Alejandro Requejo, "undated". "Conflicts of Interest, Employment Decisions, and Bank Debt Restructuring: Evidence from Spanish Firms in Financial Distress," Studies on the Spanish Economy 59, FEDEA.
    18. Finlay, William & Marshall, Andrew & McColgan, Patrick, 2018. "Financing, fire sales, and the stockholder wealth effects of asset divestiture announcements," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 323-348.
    19. Denis, Diane K. & Shome, Dilip K., 2005. "An empirical investigation of corporate asset downsizing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 427-448, June.
    20. Wang, Kun Tracy & Shailer, Greg, 2022. "Multiple performance criteria for government-controlled firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 75-96.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:19:y:2008:i:4:p:567-579. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/chieco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.