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Corporate asset purchases and sales: theory and evidence

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Author Info
Missaka Warusawitharana

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Abstract

Purchases and sales of operating assets by firms generated $162 billion for shareholders over the past 20 years. This contrasts sharply with the evidence on mergers. This paper characterizes the behavior of value-maximizing firms, which may grow organically, purchase existing assets or sell assets. The approach yields an endogenous selection model that links asset purchases and sales to fundamental properties of the firm. Empirical tests confirm the predictions of the model. In particular, return on assets and size strongly predict when firms purchase or sell assets, and the transaction size covaries with the value of capital employed by the firm. These findings indicate that corporate asset purchases and sales are consistent with efficient investment decisions.

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Paper provided by Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.) in its series Finance and Economics Discussion Series with number 2007-27.

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Date of creation: 2007
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Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2007-27

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Keywords: Corporations - Finance ; Consolidation and merger of corporations;

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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Sugata Ray & Missaka Warusawitharana, 2007. "An efficiency perspective on the gains from mergers and asset purchases," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2007-39, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
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