IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finana/v86y2023ics1057521923000169.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Allocative efficiency of internal capital markets: Evidence from equity carve-outs by diversified firms

Author

Listed:
  • Vitkova, Valeriya
  • Tian, Siyang
  • Sudarsanam, Sudi

Abstract

We examine whether equity carve-outs (ECOs) lead to improvements in the functioning of the internal capital markets (ICM) of diversified firms. Divestitures, including spin-offs, sell-offs, and equity carve-outs, can be employed by firms to improve allocative efficiency. Equity carve-outs, unlike other forms of divestiture, leave the parent's ICM largely intact but provide the opportunity to enhance internal and external corporate governance mechanisms that can improve the parent's ICM. Using a US sample of 354 equity carve-outs completed between 1980 and 2013, we find that the allocative efficiency of parents is augmented significantly following transaction completion. This increase in allocative efficiency is driven by improvements in both the external and internal governance characteristics of parent companies, consistent with the expectation that motivates equity carve-outs.

Suggested Citation

  • Vitkova, Valeriya & Tian, Siyang & Sudarsanam, Sudi, 2023. "Allocative efficiency of internal capital markets: Evidence from equity carve-outs by diversified firms," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:86:y:2023:i:c:s1057521923000169
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2023.102500
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1057521923000169
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.irfa.2023.102500?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    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. Hart, Oliver & Moore, John, 1990. "Property Rights and the Nature of the Firm," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(6), pages 1119-1158, December.
    2. Stein, Jeremy C, 1997. "Internal Capital Markets and the Competition for Corporate Resources," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 111-133, March.
    3. Ahn, Seoungpil & Denis, David J., 2004. "Internal capital markets and investment policy: evidence from corporate spinoffs," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 489-516, March.
    4. Dasilas, Apostolos & Leventis, Stergios, 2018. "The performance of European equity carve-outs," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 121-135.
    5. Jain, Bharat A. & Kini, Omesh & Shenoy, Jaideep, 2011. "Vertical divestitures through equity carve-outs and spin-offs: A product markets perspective," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(3), pages 594-615, June.
    6. Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1991. "Takeovers in the '60s and the '80s: Evidence and implications," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(S2), pages 51-59, December.
    7. Hoechle, Daniel & Schmid, Markus & Walter, Ingo & Yermack, David, 2012. "How much of the diversification discount can be explained by poor corporate governance?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 41-60.
    8. Lang, Larry & Poulsen, Annette & Stulz, Rene, 1995. "Asset sales, firm performance, and the agency costs of managerial discretion," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 3-37, January.
    9. Habib, Michel A. & Johnsen, D. Bruce & Naik, Narayan Y., 1997. "Spinoffs and Information," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 153-176, April.
    10. Lamont, Owen, 1997. "Cash Flow and Investment: Evidence from Internal Capital Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 83-109, March.
    11. McNeil, Chris R. & Moore, William T., 2005. "Dismantling internal capital markets via spinoff: effects on capital allocation efficiency and firm valuation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-2), pages 253-275, March.
    12. Eric A. Powers, 2003. "Deciphering the Motives for Equity Carve‐Outs," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 26(1), pages 31-50, March.
    13. Yermack, David, 1996. "Higher market valuation of companies with a small board of directors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 185-211, February.
    14. DiPrete, Thomas A. & Gangl, Markus, 2004. "Assessing bias in the estimation of causal effects: Rosenbaum bounds on matching estimators and instrumental variables estimation with imperfect instruments," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Labor Market Policy and Employment SP I 2004-101, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    15. Kumar, Raman & Sopariwala, Parvez R., 1992. "The Effect of Adoption of Long-Term Performance Plans on Stock Prices and Accounting Numbers," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(4), pages 561-573, December.
    16. Raghuram Rajan & Henri Servaes & Luigi Zingales, 2000. "The Cost of Diversity: The Diversification Discount and Inefficient Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 35-80, February.
    17. Naveen Khanna & Sheri Tice, 2001. "The Bright Side of Internal Capital Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(4), pages 1489-1528, August.
    18. Franklin Allen & Douglas Gale, 2004. "Competition and financial stability," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, pages 453-486.
    19. John, Kose & Ofek, Eli, 1995. "Asset sales and increase in focus," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 105-126, January.
    20. Schipper, Katherine & Smith, Abbie, 1986. "A comparison of equity carve-outs and seasoned equity offerings : Share price effects and corporate restructuring," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1-2), pages 153-186.
    21. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June.
    22. Ilan Guedj & David Scharfstein, 2004. "Organizational Scope and Investment: Evidence from the Drug Development Strategies and Performance of Biopharmaceutical Firms," NBER Working Papers 10933, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Schlingemann, Frederik P. & Stulz, Rene M. & Walkling, Ralph A., 2002. "Divestitures and the liquidity of the market for corporate assets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 117-144, April.
    24. Travis Davidson & Joel Harper, 2014. "Off Track: The Disappearance of Tracking Stocks," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 26(4), pages 98-105, December.
    25. Cline, Brandon N. & Garner, Jacqueline L. & Yore, Adam S., 2014. "Exploitation of the internal capital market and the avoidance of outside monitoring," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 234-250.
    26. David S. Scharfstein & Jeremy C. Stein, 2000. "The Dark Side of Internal Capital Markets: Divisional Rent‐Seeking and Inefficient Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(6), pages 2537-2564, December.
    27. Markus Glaser & Florencio Lopez-De-Silanes & Zacharias Sautner, 2013. "Opening the Black Box: Internal Capital Markets and Managerial Power," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(4), pages 1577-1631, August.
    28. Krishna Palepu, 1985. "Diversification strategy, profit performance and the entropy measure," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(3), pages 239-255, July.
    29. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    30. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2003. "Enjoying the Quiet Life? Corporate Governance and Managerial Preferences," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(5), pages 1043-1075, October.
    31. Stewart C. Myers & Nicholas S. Majluf, 1984. "Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions When Firms Have InformationThat Investors Do Not Have," NBER Working Papers 1396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    32. Perotti, Enrico & Rossetto, Silvia, 2007. "Unlocking value: Equity carve outs as strategic real options," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 771-792, December.
    33. Burch, Timothy R. & Nanda, Vikram, 2003. "Divisional diversity and the conglomerate discount: evidence from spinoffs," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 69-98, October.
    34. Karl V. Lins & Henri Servaes, 2002. "Is Corporate Diversification Beneficial in Emerging Market?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 31(2), Summer.
    35. Fauver, Larry & Houston, Joel & Naranjo, Andy, 2003. "Capital Market Development, International Integration, Legal Systems, and the Value of Corporate Diversification: A Cross-Country Analysis," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(1), pages 135-158, March.
    36. Oguzhan Ozbas & David S. Scharfstein, 2010. "Evidence on the Dark Side of Internal Capital Markets," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(2), pages 581-599, February.
    37. Nanda, Vikram, 1991. "On the Good News in Equity Carve-Outs," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(5), pages 1717-1737, December.
    38. Martin Bugeja & Robert Czernkowski & Daryl Moran, 2015. "The Impact of the Management Approach on Segment Reporting," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3-4), pages 310-366, April.
    39. Rajeev H. Dehejia & Sadek Wahba, 2002. "Propensity Score-Matching Methods For Nonexperimental Causal Studies," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(1), pages 151-161, February.
    40. Desai, Chintal A. & Klock, Mark S. & Mansi, Sattar A., 2011. "On the acquisition of equity carve-outs," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 3432-3449.
    41. Mulherin, J. Harold & Boone, Audra L., 2000. "Comparing acquisitions and divestitures," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 117-139, July.
    42. Jaideep Shenoy, 2012. "An Examination of the Efficiency, Foreclosure, and Collusion Rationales for Vertical Takeovers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(8), pages 1482-1501, August.
    43. Hyun-Han Shin & René M. Stulz, 1998. "Are Internal capital Markets Efficient?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(2), pages 531-552.
    44. Brickley, James A. & Coles, Jeffrey L. & Terry, Rory L., 1994. "Outside directors and the adoption of poison pills," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 371-390, June.
    45. Duggal, Rakesh & Millar, James A., 1999. "Institutional ownership and firm performance: The case of bidder returns," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 103-117, June.
    46. Vojislav Maksimovic & Gordon Phillips, 2001. "The Market for Corporate Assets: Who Engages in Mergers and Asset Sales and Are There Efficiency Gains?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(6), pages 2019-2065, December.
    47. Stuart C. Gilson & Paul M. Healy & Christopher F. Noe & Krishna G. Palepu, 2001. "Analyst Specialization and Conglomerate Stock Breakups," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(3), pages 565-582, December.
    48. April Klein & James Rosenfeld, 2010. "The Long‐Run Performance of Sponsored and Conventional Spin‐Offs," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 39(1), pages 227-247, March.
    49. Matsusaka, John G. & Nanda, Vikram, 2002. "Internal Capital Markets and Corporate Refocusing," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 176-211, April.
    50. Anand M. Vijh, 2002. "The Positive Announcement-Period Returns of Equity Carveouts: Asymmetric Information or Divestiture Gains?," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(1), pages 153-190, January.
    51. C. Edward Fee & Charles J. Hadlock & Shawn Thomas, 2006. "Corporate Equity Ownership and the Governance of Product Market Relationships," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(3), pages 1217-1251, June.
    52. 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.
    53. Robert Gertner & Eric Powers & David Scharfstein, 2002. "Learning about Internal Capital Markets from Corporate Spin‐offs," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(6), pages 2479-2506, December.
    54. David S. Scharfstein, 1998. "The Dark Side of Internal Capital Markets II: Evidence from Diversified Conglomerates," NBER Working Papers 6352, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    55. Klein, Benjamin & Crawford, Robert G & Alchian, Armen A, 1978. "Vertical Integration, Appropriable Rents, and the Competitive Contracting Process," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(2), pages 297-326, October.
    56. Heather Hulburt & James Miles & J Randall Woolridge, 2002. "Value Creation from Equity Carve-Outs," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 31(1), Spring.
    57. Holmstrom, Bengt & Tirole, Jean, 1993. "Market Liquidity and Performance Monitoring," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(4), pages 678-709, August.
    58. Thomas J. Chemmanur & Imants Paeglis, 2001. "Why Issue Tracking Stock? Insights From A Comparison With Spin‐Offs And Carve‐Outs," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 14(2), pages 102-114, June.
    59. Gönül Çolak & Toni M. Whited, 2007. "Spin-offs, Divestitures, and Conglomerate Investment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 20(3), pages 557-595.
    60. Edward J. Zajac & James D. Westphal, 1994. "The Costs and Benefits of Managerial Incentives and Monitoring in Large U.S. Corporations: When is More not Better?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(S1), pages 121-142, December.
    61. Stein, Jeremy C., 2003. "Agency, information and corporate investment," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 2, pages 111-165, Elsevier.
    62. Matthew T. Billett & Anand M. Vijh, 2004. "The Wealth Effects Of Tracking Stock Restructurings," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 27(4), pages 559-583, December.
    63. Amy Dittmar & Anil Shivdasani, 2003. "Divestitures and Divisional Investment Policies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(6), pages 2711-2744, December.
    64. Alberto Abadie & Guido W. Imbens, 2006. "Large Sample Properties of Matching Estimators for Average Treatment Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(1), pages 235-267, January.
    65. Emilie R. Feldman, 2016. "Managerial compensation and corporate spinoffs," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(10), pages 2011-2030, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Stefan Erdorf & Thomas Hartmann-Wendels & Nicolas Heinrichs & Michael Matz, 2013. "Corporate diversification and firm value: a survey of recent literature," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 27(2), pages 187-215, June.
    2. Stefan Erdorf & Thomas Hartmann-Wendels & Nicolas Heinrichs & Michael Matz, 2012. "Corporate Diversification and Firm Value: A Survey of Recent Literature," Cologne Graduate School Working Paper Series 03-01, Cologne Graduate School in Management, Economics and Social Sciences.
    3. Patrick Bielstein & Mario Fischer & Christoph Kaserer, 2018. "The cost of capital effect of M&A transactions: Disentangling coinsurance from the diversification discount," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 24(4), pages 650-679, September.
    4. Curi, Claudia & Murgia, Maurizio, 2018. "Divestitures and the financial conglomerate excess value," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 187-207.
    5. 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.
    6. Jaideep Shenoy, 2021. "Firm vertical boundaries, internal capital markets, and firm performance," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 27(1), pages 59-97, January.
    7. Stein, Jeremy C., 2003. "Agency, information and corporate investment," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 2, pages 111-165, Elsevier.
    8. Ranjan D’Mello & Xinghua Gao & Yonghong Jia, 2017. "Internal control and internal capital allocation: evidence from internal capital markets of multi-segment firms," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 251-287, March.
    9. Iskenderoglu, Cansu, 2021. "Managerial discretion and efficiency of internal capital markets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    10. Wang, Yolanda Yulong, 2023. "Corporate diversification, investment efficiency and the business cycle11This work is supported by Shenzhen Humanities & Social Sciences Key Research Bases," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    11. Chemmanur, Thomas J. & Krishnan, Karthik & Nandy, Debarshi K., 2014. "The effects of corporate spin-offs on productivity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 72-98.
    12. Hoechle, Daniel & Schmid, Markus & Walter, Ingo & Yermack, David, 2012. "How much of the diversification discount can be explained by poor corporate governance?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 41-60.
    13. Siraj, Ibrahim & Hassan, M. Kabir & Maroney, Neal, 2020. "Product demand sensitivity and the corporate diversification discount," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    14. Cline, Brandon N. & Garner, Jacqueline L. & Yore, Adam S., 2014. "Exploitation of the internal capital market and the avoidance of outside monitoring," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 234-250.
    15. Martynova, M. & Renneboog, L.D.R., 2005. "Takeover Waves : Triggers, Performance and Motives," Discussion Paper 2005-029, Tilburg University, Tilburg Law and Economic Center.
    16. Yolanda Yulong Wang, 2023. "Corporate diversification, investment efficiency and the business cycle," Post-Print hal-04005692, HAL.
    17. Mehmet Nasih Tağ, 2022. "The Dark Side of Firm Diversity: An Empirical Examination of the Impact of Firm Diversity on Resource Allocation Efficiency in Multidivisional Firms," Istanbul Business Research, Istanbul University Business School, vol. 51(2), pages 643-668, November.
    18. Kim, Sehoon, 2020. "Disappearing Discounts: Hedge Fund Activism in Conglomerates," MPRA Paper 100876, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Benz, Andreas & Demerjian, Peter R. & Hoang, Daniel & Ruckes, Martin E., 2024. "Picking winners: Managerial ability and capital allocation," Working Paper Series in Economics 163, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Department of Economics and Management.
    20. Min Dai & Xavier Giroud & Wei Jiang & Neng Wang, 2020. "A q Theory of Internal Capital Markets," NBER Working Papers 27931, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Internal capital markets; Equity carve-outs; Corporate governance; Investment efficiency; Diversified firms; Refocusing; Divestment; Propensity score matching; Endogeneity; Heckman Bias correction;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:finana:v:86:y:2023:i:c:s1057521923000169. 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/inca/620166 .

    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.