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Buying high and selling low: stock repurchases and persistent asymmetric information

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  • Bond, Philip
  • Zhong, Hongda

Abstract

Share prices generally fall when a firm announces a seasoned equity offering (SEO). A standard explanation is that an SEO communicates negative information to investors. We show that if repeated capital market transactions are possible, this same asymmetry of information between firms and investors implies that some firms also repurchase shares in equilibrium. A subset of these firms directly profit from repurchases, while other firms repurchase in order to improve the terms of a subsequent SEO. The possibility of repurchases reduces both SEOs and investment. Overall, our analysis highlights the importance of analyzing SEOs and repurchases in a unified framework.

Suggested Citation

  • Bond, Philip & Zhong, Hongda, 2016. "Buying high and selling low: stock repurchases and persistent asymmetric information," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 67011, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:67011
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    3. Lannoo, Karel & Thomadakis, Apostolos, 2019. "Rebranding Capital Markets Union: A market finance action plan," ECMI Papers 500, Centre for European Policy Studies.
    4. Starkov, Egor, 2023. "Only time will tell: Credible dynamic signaling," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
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    6. Gyoshev, Stanley B. & Kaplan, Todd R. & Szewczyk, Samuel H. & Tsetsekos, George P., 2021. "Why do investment banks buy put options from companies?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
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    8. Saeed Md. Abdullah & Simon Zaby, 2021. "Seasoned Equity Offerings and Differences in Share-Price Impact by Firm Categories," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-10, July.
    9. Ordoñez, Guillermo & Perez-Reyna, David & Yogo, Motohiro, 2019. "Leverage dynamics and credit quality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 183-212.
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    JEL classification:

    • F3 - International Economics - - International Finance
    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance

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