IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/acctfi/v63y2023i1p691-717.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dividend imputation taxes and the curious case of a price premium between BHP and Billiton American depositary receipts

Author

Listed:
  • Hansi Hu
  • Terry Walter

Abstract

BHP Group was formed in 2001 when the Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited in Australia merged with the Anglo–Dutch Billiton Plc in the UK to form a dual−listed company. The American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) for BHP and Billiton trade on the NYSE, and despite these two securities having exactly the same voting rights and US dollar denominated dividends, the BHP ADR generally sells at a premium to the Billiton ADR, though that premium has considerable time−series variation. We investigate whether differences in the imputation tax systems that apply to dividends in Australia and the UK help explain the time series variation in the premium of the ADR prices. Our results confirm that imputation tax differences are a significant determinant of the premium. Our paper hence provides direct evidence that imputation tax credits are capitalised into equity prices.

Suggested Citation

  • Hansi Hu & Terry Walter, 2023. "Dividend imputation taxes and the curious case of a price premium between BHP and Billiton American depositary receipts," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(1), pages 691-717, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:63:y:2023:i:1:p:691-717
    DOI: 10.1111/acfi.12957
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.12957
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/acfi.12957?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McDonald, Robert L, 2001. "Cross-Border Investing with Tax Arbitrage: The Case of German Dividend Tax Credits," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(3), pages 617-657.
    2. Junming Hsu & Hsin‐Yi Wang, 2008. "Why Do Price Spreads Between Domestic Shares And Their Adrs Vary Over Time?," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(4), pages 473-491, October.
    3. Rosenthal, Leonard & Young, Colin, 1990. "The seemingly anomalous price behavior of Royal Dutch/Shell and Unilever N.V./PLC," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 123-141, July.
    4. Cannavan, Damien & Finn, Frank & Gray, Stephen, 2004. "The value of dividend imputation tax credits in Australia," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 167-197, July.
    5. Barberis, Nicholas & Thaler, Richard, 2003. "A survey of behavioral finance," 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 18, pages 1053-1128, Elsevier.
    6. Bodurtha, James N, Jr & Kim, Dong-Soon & Lee, Charles M C, 1995. "Closed-End Country Funds and U.S. Market Sentiment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 8(3), pages 879-918.
    7. Aelee Jun & Graham H. Partington, 2014. "Taxes, International Clienteles and the Value of ADR Dividends," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(9-10), pages 1337-1360, November.
    8. Davidson, Russell & MacKinnon, James G., 1993. "Estimation and Inference in Econometrics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195060119.
    9. Kai-Wei (Shaun) Siau & Stephen J. Sault & Geoffrey J. Warren & Henk Berkman, 2015. "Are imputation credits capitalised into stock prices?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 55(1), pages 241-277, March.
    10. Keele, Luke & Kelly, Nathan J., 2006. "Dynamic Models for Dynamic Theories: The Ins and Outs of Lagged Dependent Variables," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(2), pages 186-205, April.
    11. Myron J. Gordon & Eli Shapiro, 1956. "Capital Equipment Analysis: The Required Rate of Profit," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(1), pages 102-110, October.
    12. Aelee Jun & V. T. Alaganar & Graham Partington & Max Stevenson, 2008. "Price and Volume Behavior around the Ex‐dividend Day: Evidence on the Value of Dividends from American Depositary Receipts and their Underlying Australian Stocks," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 8(1‐2), pages 21-55, March.
    13. Samuel Koumkwa & Raul Susmel, 2008. "Arbitrage and Convergence: Evidence from Mexican ADRs," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 399-425, November.
    14. James A. Ohlson, 2001. "Earnings, Book Values, and Dividends in Equity Valuation: An Empirical Perspective," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(1), pages 107-120, March.
    15. Roger Su & Ronghua Yi & Keith Hooper & Amitabh Dutta, 2013. "Information Spillover, Profit Opportunities, and Return Deviations Analysis: The Case of Cross-Listed BHP Billiton," International Journal of Business and Economics, School of Management Development, Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan, vol. 12(2), pages 155-170, December.
    16. Grossmann, Axel & Ozuna, Teofilo & Simpson, Marc W., 2007. "ADR mispricing: Do costly arbitrage and consumer sentiment explain the price deviation?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 361-371, October.
    17. McInish, Thomas H & Wood, Robert A, 1992. "An Analysis of Intraday Patterns in Bid/Ask Spreads for NYSE Stocks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 753-764, June.
    18. Jeffrey Pontiff, 1996. "Costly Arbitrage: Evidence from Closed-End Funds," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(4), pages 1135-1151.
    19. Shing-yang Hu, 1997. "Trading Turnover and Expected Stock Returns: The Trading Frequency Hypothesis and Evidence from the Tokyo Stock Exchange," Finance 9702001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Samuel Koumkwa & Raúl Susmel, 2008. "Arbitrage and convergence: Evidence from Mexican ADRs," Journal of Applied Economics, Universidad del CEMA, vol. 11, pages 399-425, November.
    21. Froot, Kenneth A. & Dabora, Emil M., 1999. "How are stock prices affected by the location of trade?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 189-216, August.
    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. Gagnon, Louis & Andrew Karolyi, G., 2010. "Multi-market trading and arbitrage," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 53-80, July.
    2. Grossmann, Axel & Ngo, Thanh, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty and ADR mispricing," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    3. Jacobs, Heiko, 2015. "What explains the dynamics of 100 anomalies?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 65-85.
    4. Cannavan, Damien & Gray, Stephen, 2017. "Dividend drop-off estimates of the value of dividend imputation tax credits," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 46(PB), pages 213-226.
    5. Andrew Ainsworth & Kingsley YL Fong & David R Gallagher & Graham Partington, 2016. "Institutional trading around the ex-dividend day," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 41(2), pages 299-323, May.
    6. Andrew B. Ainsworth & Kingsley Y.L. Fong & David R. Gallagher & Graham Partington, 2018. "Taxes, Order Imbalance and Abnormal Returns around the ex‐Dividend day," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 18(3), pages 379-409, September.
    7. Aelee Jun & Graham H. Partington, 2014. "Taxes, International Clienteles and the Value of ADR Dividends," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(9-10), pages 1337-1360, November.
    8. Wang, Xue & Yao, Lee J. & Fang, Victor, 2013. "Stock prices and the location of trade: Evidence from China-backed ADRs," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 677-688.
    9. Malcolm Baker & C. Fritz Foley & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2004. "The Stock Market and Investment: Evidence from FDI Flows," NBER Working Papers 10559, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Wang, Ming-Chieh, 2013. "Is there a reversal in the price discovery process under different market conditions? Evidence from Korean ADRs and their underlying foreign securities," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 1160-1174.
    11. Baker, Malcolm & Wurgler, Jeffrey & Yuan, Yu, 2012. "Global, local, and contagious investor sentiment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(2), pages 272-287.
    12. Froot, Kenneth A. & Dabora, Emil M., 1999. "How are stock prices affected by the location of trade?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 189-216, August.
    13. Jacobs, Heiko & Müller, Sebastian, 2020. "Anomalies across the globe: Once public, no longer existent?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(1), pages 213-230.
    14. Kenneth A. Froot & Tarun Ramadorai, 2001. "The Information Content of International Portfolio Flows," NBER Working Papers 8472, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Masini, Andrea & Menichetti, Emanuela, 2012. "The impact of behavioural factors in the renewable energy investment decision making process: Conceptual framework and empirical findings," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 28-38.
    16. Jacobs, Heiko & Weber, Martin, 2015. "On the determinants of pairs trading profitability," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 75-97.
    17. Grossmann, Axel & Ngo, Thanh & Simpson, Marc W., 2017. "The asymmetric impact of currency purchasing power imparities on ADR mispricing," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 42, pages 74-94.
    18. Grossmann, Axel & Ngo, Thanh, 2022. "Cross-country cultural and economic freedom influences on the relationship between economic policy uncertainty and ADR mispricing," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    19. David C. Ling & Andy Naranjo & Benjamin Scheick, 2014. "Investor Sentiment, Limits to Arbitrage and Private Market Returns," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 42(3), pages 531-577, September.
    20. Omar Esqueda & Yongli Luo & Dave Jackson, 2015. "The linkage between the U.S. “fear index” and ADR premiums under non-frictionless stock markets," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 39(3), pages 541-556, July.

    More about this item

    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:bla:acctfi:v:63:y:2023:i:1:p:691-717. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaanzea.html .

    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.