IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/rfinst/v23y2010i7p2865-2899.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Acquisition Values and Optimal Financial (In)Flexibility

Author

Listed:
  • Ulrich Hege

Abstract

This article analyzes optimal financial contracts for an incumbent and potential entrant accounting for prospective asset mergers. Exercising a first-mover advantage, the incumbent increases his share of surplus by issuing public debt that appreciates in the event of merger. Incumbent debt reduces the equilibrium value of entrant assets and thus reduces the return to (likelihood of) entry through two channels: venture capitalists recover less in default and ownership rights provide weaker managerial incentives. High incumbent leverage has a countervailing cost, since the resulting debt overhang prevents ex post efficient mergers if merger surplus is low. Event risk covenants limiting counterparty debt are optimal for the incumbent, further limiting the entrant's share of merger surplus. A poison-put covenant is also optimal for the incumbent, allowing him to extract the same surplus with lower debt face value. The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for Financial Studies. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org., Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Ulrich Hege, 2010. "Acquisition Values and Optimal Financial (In)Flexibility," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(7), pages 2865-2899, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:23:y:2010:i:7:p:2865-2899
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rfs/hhq017
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

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

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Efraim Benmelech & Mark J. Garmaise & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 2005. "Do Liquidation Values Affect Financial Contracts? Evidence from Commercial Loan Contracts and Zoning Regulation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(3), pages 1121-1154.
    2. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1992. "Liquidation Values and Debt Capacity: A Market Equilibrium Approach," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1343-1366, September.
    3. Vojislav Maksimovic, 1988. "Capital Structure in Repeated Oligopolies," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 19(3), pages 389-407, Autumn.
    4. Michael Faulkender & Mitchell A. Petersen, 2006. "Does the Source of Capital Affect Capital Structure?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 19(1), pages 45-79.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. Acharya, Viral V. & Bharath, Sreedhar T. & Srinivasan, Anand, 2007. "Does industry-wide distress affect defaulted firms? Evidence from creditor recoveries," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(3), pages 787-821, September.
    8. McAndrews, James J & Nakamura, Leonard I, 1992. "Entry-Deterring Debt," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 24(1), pages 98-110, February.
    9. Chevalier, Judith A & Scharfstein, David S, 1996. "Capital-Market Imperfections and Countercyclical Markups: Theory and Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(4), pages 703-725, September.
    10. Luigi Zingales, "undated". "Survival of the Fittest or the Fattest? Exit and Financing in the Trucking Industry," CRSP working papers 336, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
    11. Zwiebel, Jeffrey, 1996. "Dynamic Capital Structure under Managerial Entrenchment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(5), pages 1197-1215, December.
    12. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:3:p:905-938 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Campello, Murillo, 2003. "Capital structure and product markets interactions: evidence from business cycles," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 353-378, June.
    14. Faure-Grimaud, Antoine, 2000. "Product market competition and optimal debt contracts: The limited liability effect revisited," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(10), pages 1823-1840, December.
    15. Hannan, Michael T & Burton, M Diane & Baron, James N, 1996. "Inertia and Change in the Early Years: Employment Relations in Young, High Technology Firms," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 5(2), pages 503-536.
    16. Laurence Booth & Varouj Aivazian & Asli Demirguc‐Kunt & Vojislav Maksimovic, 2001. "Capital Structures in Developing Countries," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(1), pages 87-130, February.
    17. Gompers, Paul A, 1995. "Optimal Investment, Monitoring, and the Staging of Venture Capital," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1461-1489, December.
    18. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:3:p:939-978 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Phillips, Gordon M., 1995. "Increased debt and industry product markets An empirical analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 189-238, February.
    20. Andrade, Gregor & Stafford, Erik, 2004. "Investigating the economic role of mergers," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 1-36, January.
    21. Peter MacKay & Gordon M. Phillips, 2005. "How Does Industry Affect Firm Financial Structure?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 18(4), pages 1433-1466.
    22. Powell, Ronan & Yawson, Alfred, 2005. "Industry aspects of takeovers and divestitures: Evidence from the UK," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(12), pages 3015-3040, December.
    23. Hay, Donald A & Liu, Guy S, 1998. "When Do Firms Go in for Growth by Acquisitions?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 60(2), pages 143-164, May.
    24. Showalter, Dean M, 1995. "Oligopoly and Financial Structure: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(3), pages 647-653, June.
    25. Lang, Larry H. P. & Stulz, ReneM. & Walkling, Ralph A., 1991. "A test of the free cash flow hypothesis*1: The case of bidder returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 315-335, October.
    26. Bolton, Patrick & Scharfstein, David S, 1990. "A Theory of Predation Based on Agency Problems in Financial Contracting," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(1), pages 93-106, March.
    27. Dasgupta, Sudipto & Titman, Sheridan, 1998. "Pricing Strategy and Financial Policy," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 11(4), pages 705-737.
    28. Brander, James A. & Lewis, Tracy R., 1986. "Oligopoly and Financial Structure: The Limited Liability Effect," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(5), pages 956-970, December.
    29. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    30. Espen Eckbo, B. & Thorburn, S. Karin, 2008. "Automatic bankruptcy auctions and fire-sales," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(3), pages 404-422, September.
    31. Akhigbe, Aigbe & Madura, Jeff, 1999. "The Industry Effects Regarding the Probability of Takeovers," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 34(3), pages 1-17, August.
    32. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1995. "What Do We Know about Capital Structure? Some Evidence from International Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1421-1460, December.
    33. Schlingemann, Frederik P., 2004. "Financing decisions and bidder gains," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(5), pages 683-701, November.
    34. Campello, Murillo, 2006. "Debt financing: Does it boost or hurt firm performance in product markets?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 135-172, October.
    35. Fulghieri, P. & Nagarajan, S., 1996. "On the strategic role of high leverage in entry deterrence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 1-23, January.
    36. Myers, Stewart C., 1977. "Determinants of corporate borrowing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 147-175, November.
    37. Chevalier, Judith A, 1995. "Capital Structure and Product-Market Competition: Empirical Evidence from the Supermarket Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(3), pages 415-435, June.
    38. Garth Saloner, 1987. "Predation, Mergers, and Incomplete Information," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 18(2), pages 165-186, Summer.
    39. Miller, Merton H, 1977. "Debt and Taxes," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(2), pages 261-275, May.
    40. Chevalier, Judith A, 1995. "Do LBO Supermarkets Charge More? An Empirical Analysis of the Effects of LBOs on Supermarket Pricing," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(4), pages 1095-1112, September.
    41. Houston, Joel & James, Christopher, 1996. "Bank Information Monopolies and the Mix of Private and Public Debt Claims," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(5), pages 1863-1889, December.
    42. Povel, Paul & Raith, Michael, 2004. "Financial constraints and product market competition: ex ante vs. ex post incentives," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(7), pages 917-949, September.
    43. Smith, Clifford Jr. & Warner, Jerold B., 1979. "On financial contracting : An analysis of bond covenants," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 117-161, June.
    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. Renjie, Rex Wang & Xia, Shuo, 2024. "Poison bonds," IWH Discussion Papers 3/2024, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    2. Tarsalewska, Monika, 2015. "The timing of mergers along the production chain, capital structure, and risk dynamics," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 51-64.
    3. Ioannis Anagnostopoulos & Anas Rizeq, 2021. "Conventional and neural network target‐matching methods dynamics: The information technology mergers and acquisitions market in the USA," Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(2), pages 97-118, April.
    4. Tarsalewska, Monika, 2018. "Buyouts under the threat of preemption," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 39-58.
    5. Gui, Zhengqing & von Thadden, Ernst-Ludwig & Zhao, Xiaojian, 2019. "Incentive-compatibility, limited liability and costly liquidation in financial contracting," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 412-433.

    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. Ferrés, Daniel & Ormazabal, Gaizka & Povel, Paul & Sertsios, Giorgo, 2021. "Capital structure under collusion," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    2. Bandyopadhyay, Arindam & Barua, Nandita Malini, 2016. "Factors determining capital structure and corporate performance in India: Studying the business cycle effects," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 160-172.
    3. Jianjun Miao, 2005. "Optimal Capital Structure and Industry Dynamics," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(6), pages 2621-2659, December.
    4. Istaitieh, Abdulaziz & Rodriguez-Fernandez, Jose M., 2006. "Factor-product markets and firm's capital structure: A literature review," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 49-75.
    5. Xu, Jin, 2012. "Profitability and capital structure: Evidence from import penetration," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(2), pages 427-446.
    6. Abdulaziz Istaitieh & José M. Rodríguez‐Fernández, 2006. "Factor‐product markets and firm's capital structure: A literature review," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(1), pages 49-75.
    7. Leach, J. Chris & Moyen, Nathalie & Yang, Jing, 2013. "On the strategic use of debt and capacity in rapidly expanding markets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 332-344.
    8. Federico Etro, 2010. "Endogenous market structures and the optimal financial structure," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 43(4), pages 1333-1352, November.
    9. Grieser, William & Hadlock, Charles & LeSage, James & Zekhnini, Morad, 2022. "Network effects in corporate financial policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(1), pages 247-272.
    10. T. Franck & N. Huyghebaert, 2004. "On the Interactions between Capital Structure and Product Markets.A Survey of the Literature," Review of Business and Economic Literature, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Review of Business and Economic Literature, vol. 0(4), pages 727-787.
    11. Vu Tuan Chu & Trang Hanh Lam Pham, 2021. "Zero leverage and product market competition," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(4), pages 1-18, April.
    12. Agarwal, Manoj K. & Ma, Zecong & Park, Chang Hee & Zheng, Yilong, 2022. "The impact of a manufacturer’s financial liquidity on its market strategies and pricing and promotion decisions in retail grocery markets," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 844-857.
    13. Friedrich, Benjamin U. & Zator, Michał, 2023. "Flexibility costs of debt: Danish exporters during the cartoon crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(2), pages 91-117.
    14. Sertsios, Giorgo, 2020. "Corporate finance, industrial organization, and organizational economics," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    15. Billett, Matthew T. & Esmer, Burcu & Yu, Miaomiao, 2018. "Creditor control and product-market competition," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 87-100.
    16. Campello, Murillo, 2006. "Debt financing: Does it boost or hurt firm performance in product markets?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 135-172, October.
    17. Fosu, Samuel, 2013. "Capital structure, product market competition and firm performance: Evidence from South Africa," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 140-151.
    18. Povel, Paul & Raith, Michael, 2004. "Financial constraints and product market competition: ex ante vs. ex post incentives," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(7), pages 917-949, September.
    19. Rosellon Cifuentes, M.A., 1999. "Essays on financial policy, liquidation values and product markets," Other publications TiSEM 802f644e-3e93-4815-bf33-8, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    20. Showalter, Dean, 1999. "Strategic debt: evidence in manufacturing," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 319-333, April.

    More about this item

    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:oup:rfinst:v:23:y:2010:i:7:p:2865-2899. 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: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sfsssea.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.