IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tin/wpaper/20130153.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Hole in the Wall: Informed Short Selling ahead of Private Placements

Author

Listed:
  • Henk Berkman

    (University of Auckland, Australia)

  • Michael McKenzie

    (University of Sydney)

  • Patrick Verwijmeren

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam, Duisenberg School of Finance, The Netherlands; University of Melbourne; University of Glasgow)

Abstract

Companies planning a private placement typically gauge the interest of potential buyers before the offering is publicly announced. Regulators are concerned with this practice, called wall-crossing, as it might invite insider trading, especially when the potential investors are hedge funds. We examine privately placed common stock and convertible offerings and find widespread evidence of pre-announcement short selling. We show that pre-announcement short sellers are able to predict announcement day returns. The effects are especially strong when hedge funds are involved and when the number of buyers is high.

Suggested Citation

  • Henk Berkman & Michael McKenzie & Patrick Verwijmeren, 2013. "Hole in the Wall: Informed Short Selling ahead of Private Placements," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 13-153/IV/DSF62, Tinbergen Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20130153
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/13153.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Duca, Eric & Dutordoir, Marie & Veld, Chris & Verwijmeren, Patrick, 2012. "Why are convertible bond announcements associated with increasingly negative issuer stock returns? An arbitrage-based explanation," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 2884-2899.
    2. Utpal Bhattacharya & Hazem Daouk, 2002. "The World Price of Insider Trading," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 75-108, February.
    3. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2008. "Trusting the Stock Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(6), pages 2557-2600, December.
    4. Henk Berkman & Michael D. McKenzie, 2012. "Earnings Announcements: Good News for Institutional Investors and Short Sellers," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 47(1), pages 91-113, February.
    5. de Jong, Abe & Dutordoir, Marie & Verwijmeren, Patrick, 2011. "Why do convertible issuers simultaneously repurchase stock? An arbitrage-based explanation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 113-129, April.
    6. Engelberg, Joseph E. & Reed, Adam V. & Ringgenberg, Matthew C., 2012. "How are shorts informed?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(2), pages 260-278.
    7. Michael Hertzel & Michael Lemmon & James S. Linck & Lynn Rees, 2002. "Long‐Run Performance following Private Placements of Equity," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(6), pages 2595-2617, December.
    8. Andriy Bodnaruk & Massimo Massa & Andrei Simonov, 2009. "Investment Banks as Insiders and the Market for Corporate Control," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(12), pages 4989-5026, December.
    9. Stephen E. Christophe & Michael G. Ferri & James J. Angel, 2004. "Short-Selling Prior to Earnings Announcements," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(4), pages 1845-1876, August.
    10. Acharya, Viral V. & Johnson, Timothy C., 2010. "More insiders, more insider trading: Evidence from private-equity buyouts," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(3), pages 500-523, December.
    11. John M. Griffin & Tao Shu & Selim Topaloglu, 2012. "Examining the Dark Side of Financial Markets: Do Institutions Trade on Information from Investment Bank Connections?," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(7), pages 2155-2188.
    12. Acharya, Viral V. & Johnson, Timothy C., 2007. "Insider trading in credit derivatives," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 110-141, April.
    13. Lasse Heje Pedersen & Mark Mitchell & Todd Pulvino, 2007. "Slow Moving Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 215-220, May.
    14. Jay R. Ritter, 2008. "Forensic Finance," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(3), pages 127-147, Summer.
    15. Hertzel, Michael G & Smith, Richard L, 1993. "Market Discounts and Shareholder Gains for Placing Equity Privately," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(2), pages 459-485, June.
    16. Wruck, Karen Hopper, 1989. "Equity ownership concentration and firm value : Evidence from private equity financings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 3-28, June.
    17. Amy Dittmar & Anjan Thakor, 2007. "Why Do Firms Issue Equity?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(1), pages 1-54, February.
    18. Artyom Durnev & Randall Morck & Bernard Yeung & Paul Zarowin, 2003. "Does Greater Firm‐Specific Return Variation Mean More or Less Informed Stock Pricing?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5), pages 797-836, December.
    19. Stephen J. Brown & Bruce D. Grundy & Craig M. Lewis & Patrick Verwijmeren, 2012. "Convertibles and Hedge Funds as Distributors of Equity Exposure," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(10), pages 3077-3112.
    20. Pedro A. C. Saffi & Kari Sigurdsson, 2011. "Price Efficiency and Short Selling," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(3), pages 821-852.
    21. Hillion, Pierre & Vermaelen, Theo, 2004. "Death spiral convertibles," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 381-415, February.
    22. Ivashina, Victoria & Sun, Zheng, 2011. "Institutional stock trading on loan market information," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(2), pages 284-303, May.
    23. Fishe, Raymond P. H. & Robe, Michel A., 2004. "The impact of illegal insider trading in dealer and specialist markets: evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 461-488, March.
    24. Choi, Darwin & Getmansky, Mila & Tookes, Heather, 2009. "Convertible bond arbitrage, liquidity externalities, and stock prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 227-251, February.
    25. David J. Brophy & Paige P. Ouimet & Clemens Sialm, 2009. "Hedge Funds as Investors of Last Resort?," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(2), pages 541-574, February.
    26. Floros, Ioannis V. & Sapp, Travis R.A., 2012. "Why do firms issue private equity repeatedly? On the motives and information content of multiple PIPE offerings," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 3469-3481.
    27. Chen, Hsuan-Chi & Dai, Na & Schatzberg, John D., 2010. "The choice of equity selling mechanisms: PIPEs versus SEOs," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 104-119, February.
    28. Tyler R. Henry & Jennifer L. Koski, 2010. "Short Selling Around Seasoned Equity Offerings," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(12), pages 4389-4418, December.
    29. Dai, Na, 2007. "Does investor identity matter? An empirical examination of investments by venture capital funds and hedge funds in PIPEs," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 538-563, September.
    30. Massoud, Nadia & Nandy, Debarshi & Saunders, Anthony & Song, Keke, 2011. "Do hedge funds trade on private information? Evidence from syndicated lending and short-selling," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(3), pages 477-499, March.
    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. Li, Xiaoyang & Lin, Shannon & Tucker, Alan L., 2016. "The curious case of converts," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 1-17.

    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. Li, Xiaoyang & Lin, Shannon & Tucker, Alan L., 2016. "The curious case of converts," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 1-17.
    2. John, Kose & Mateti, Ravi S. & Vasudevan, Gopala & Amira, Khaled, 2016. "Investor protection and firm value: Evidence from PIPE offerings," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 78-89.
    3. Hackney, John & Henry, Tyler R. & Koski, Jennifer L., 2020. "Arbitrage vs. informed short selling: Evidence from convertible bond issuers," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    4. Andriosopoulos, Dimitris & Panetsidou, Styliani, 2021. "A global analysis of Private Investments in Public Equity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    5. Dahiya, Sandeep & Klapper, Leora & Parthasarathy, Harini & Singer, Dorothe, 2017. "Equity raising by Asian firms: Choosing between PIPEs and SEOs," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 64-83.
    6. Hsu, Ching-Yu & Chen, Sheng-Syan & Huang, Chia-Wei, 2021. "Board independence and PIPE offerings," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 478-500.
    7. Dutordoir, Marie & Lewis, Craig & Seward, James & Veld, Chris, 2014. "What we do and do not know about convertible bond financing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 3-20.
    8. Dai, Na, 2011. "Monitoring via staging: Evidence from Private investments in public equity," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 3417-3431.
    9. Chen, Sheng-Syan & Hsu, Ching-Yu & Huang, Chia-Wei, 2016. "The white squire defense: Evidence from private investments in public equity," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 16-35.
    10. Berkman, Henk & Eugster, Marco, 2017. "Short on drugs: Short selling during the drug development process," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 102-123.
    11. Floros, Ioannis V. & Sapp, Travis R.A., 2012. "Why do firms issue private equity repeatedly? On the motives and information content of multiple PIPE offerings," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 3469-3481.
    12. Seth Armitage & Dionysia Dionysiou & Angelica Gonzalez, 2014. "Are the Discounts in Seasoned Equity Offers Due to Inelastic Demand?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5-6), pages 743-772, June.
    13. Barg, Johannes A. & Drobetz, Wolfgang & Momtaz, Paul P., 2021. "Valuing start-up firms: A reverse-engineering approach for fair-value multiples from venture capital transactions," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    14. Ben-David, Itzhak & Birru, Justin & Rossi, Andrea, 2019. "Industry familiarity and trading: Evidence from the personal portfolios of industry insiders," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 49-75.
    15. Lim, Jongha & Schwert, Michael & Weisbach, Michael S., 2021. "The economics of PIPEs," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    16. Chen, Hsuan-Chi & Dai, Na & Schatzberg, John D., 2010. "The choice of equity selling mechanisms: PIPEs versus SEOs," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 104-119, February.
    17. Haselmann, Rainer & Leuz, Christian & Schreiber, Sebastian, 2021. "Know Your Customer: Relationship Lending and Bank Trading," LawFin Working Paper Series 22, Goethe University, Center for Advanced Studies on the Foundations of Law and Finance (LawFin).
    18. Davis, Frederick & Khadivar, Hamed & Walker, Thomas J., 2021. "Institutional trading in firms rumored to be takeover targets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    19. Chen, An-Sing & Cheng, Lee-Young & Cheng, Kuang-Fu & Chih, Shu-Wei, 2010. "Earnings management, market discounts and the performance of private equity placements," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1922-1932, August.
    20. de Jong, Abe & Dutordoir, Marie & Verwijmeren, Patrick, 2011. "Why do convertible issuers simultaneously repurchase stock? An arbitrage-based explanation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 113-129, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Insider trading; Hedge funds; Private placements; Wall-crossing; Short-selling;
    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

    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:tin:wpaper:20130153. 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: Tinbergen Office +31 (0)10-4088900 (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/tinbenl.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.