IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/finmgt/v50y2021i3p845-873.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The dark side of shareholder litigation: Evidence from corporate takeovers

Author

Listed:
  • Yongqiang Chu
  • Yijia (Eddie) Zhao

Abstract

Exploiting staggered adoption of the universal demand (UD) laws by 23 states between 1989 and 2005 that makes filing shareholder derivative litigations more difficult, we show that reduced litigation threats improve corporate takeover efficiency. Using a difference‐in‐differences approach, we find that acquirers experience higher announcement returns and better postmerger operating performance after the UD laws. Further analysis suggests that acquirers make suboptimal merger decisions to avoid litigation. Taken together, we show that litigation risk can distort managers’ incentives and destroy value ex ante.

Suggested Citation

  • Yongqiang Chu & Yijia (Eddie) Zhao, 2021. "The dark side of shareholder litigation: Evidence from corporate takeovers," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 50(3), pages 845-873, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:finmgt:v:50:y:2021:i:3:p:845-873
    DOI: 10.1111/fima.12342
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/fima.12342
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/fima.12342?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. Brown, Stephen J. & Warner, Jerold B., 1985. "Using daily stock returns : The case of event studies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 3-31, March.
    2. Jensen, Michael C. & Ruback, Richard S., 1983. "The market for corporate control : The scientific evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-4), pages 5-50, April.
    3. Garfinkel, Jon A. & Hankins, Kristine Watson, 2011. "The role of risk management in mergers and merger waves," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 515-532, September.
    4. Roberts, Michael R. & Whited, Toni M., 2013. "Endogeneity in Empirical Corporate Finance1," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 493-572, Elsevier.
    5. 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.
    6. Arturo Bris & Christos Cabolis, 2008. "The Value of Investor Protection: Firm Evidence from Cross-Border Mergers," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(2), pages 605-648, April.
    7. Adam B. Badawi & Daniel L. Chen, 2017. "The Shareholder Wealth Effects of Delaware Litigation," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 19(2), pages 287-326.
    8. Sanjai Bhagat & Roberta Romano, 2002. "Event Studies and the Law: Part II: Empirical Studies of Corporate Law," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 4(2), pages 380-423.
    9. Graham, John R. & Li, Si & Qiu, Jiaping, 2008. "Corporate misreporting and bank loan contracting," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 44-61, July.
    10. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769.
    11. Cumming, Douglas & Haslem, Bruce & Knill, April, 2017. "Entrepreneurial Litigation and Venture Capital Finance," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(5), pages 2217-2250, October.
    12. DuCharme, Larry L. & Malatesta, Paul H. & Sefcik, Stephan E., 2004. "Earnings management, stock issues, and shareholder lawsuits," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 27-49, January.
    13. G. William Schwert, 2000. "Hostility in Takeovers: In the Eyes of the Beholder?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(6), pages 2599-2640, December.
    14. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2003. "Enjoying the Quiet Life? Corporate Governance and Managerial Preferences," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(5), pages 1043-1075, October.
    15. Greg Niehaus & Greg Roth, 1999. "Insider Trading, Equity Issues and CEO Turnover in Firms Subject to Securities Class Actions," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 28(4), Winter.
    16. Cai, Ye & Sevilir, Merih, 2012. "Board connections and M&A transactions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(2), pages 327-349.
    17. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    18. Chu, Yongqiang, 2017. "Shareholder litigation, shareholder–creditor conflict, and the cost of bank loans," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 318-332.
    19. Sanjai Bhagat & Roberta Romano, "undated". "Event Studies and the Law: Part II--Empirical Studies and Corporate Law," Yale Law School John M. Olin Center for Studies in Law, Economics, and Public Policy Working Paper Series yale_lepp-1019, Yale Law School John M. Olin Center for Studies in Law, Economics, and Public Policy.
    20. 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.
    21. Nguyen, Hien T. & Phan, Hieu V. & Sun, Lingna (Selina), 2018. "Shareholder litigation rights and corporate cash holdings: Evidence from universal demand laws," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 192-213.
    22. Sanjai Bhagat & Roberta Romano, 2001. "Event Studies and the Law: Part II - Empirical Studies of Corporate Law," Yale School of Management Working Papers amz2453, Yale School of Management, revised 01 Sep 2002.
    23. Sanjai Bhagat & John Bizjak & Jeffrey L. Coles, 1998. "The Shareholder Wealth Implications of Corporate Lawsuits," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 27(4), Winter.
    24. Brochet, Francois & Srinivasan, Suraj, 2014. "Accountability of independent directors: Evidence from firms subject to securities litigation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 430-449.
    25. Gande, Amar & Lewis, Craig M., 2009. "Shareholder-Initiated Class Action Lawsuits: Shareholder Wealth Effects and Industry Spillovers," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(4), pages 823-850, August.
    26. Romano, Roberta, 1991. "The Shareholder Suit: Litigation without Foundation?," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(1), pages 55-87, Spring.
    27. Moeller, Sara B. & Schlingemann, Frederik P. & Stulz, Rene M., 2004. "Firm size and the gains from acquisitions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 201-228, August.
    28. Jonathan R. Macey & Maureen O'Hara, 2003. "The corporate governance of banks," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 9(Apr), pages 91-107.
    29. Jonathan M. Karpoff & Michael D. Wittry, 2018. "Institutional and Legal Context in Natural Experiments: The Case of State Antitakeover Laws," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(2), pages 657-714, April.
    30. Engelberg, Joseph & Gao, Pengjie & Parsons, Christopher A., 2012. "Friends with money," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 169-188.
    31. Krishnan, C.N.V. & Masulis, Ronald W. & Thomas, Randall S. & Thompson, Robert B., 2012. "Shareholder litigation in mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 1248-1268.
    32. Healy, Paul M. & Palepu, Krishna G. & Ruback, Richard S., 1992. "Does corporate performance improve after mergers?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 135-175, April.
    33. Christa H. S. Bouwman & Kathleen Fuller & Amrita S. Nain, 2009. "Market Valuation and Acquisition Quality: Empirical Evidence," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(2), pages 633-679, February.
    34. Amihud, Yakov & Lev, Baruch & Travlos, Nickolaos G, 1990. "Corporate Control and the Choice of Investment Financing: The Case of Corporate Acquisitions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 603-616, June.
    35. Mike Burkart & Denis Gromb & Fausto Panunzi, 1997. "Large Shareholders, Monitoring, and the Value of the Firm," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(3), pages 693-728.
    36. Ronald W. Masulis & Cong Wang & Fei Xie, 2007. "Corporate Governance and Acquirer Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(4), pages 1851-1889, August.
    37. Ai, Chunrong & Norton, Edward C., 2003. "Interaction terms in logit and probit models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 123-129, July.
    38. G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), 2013. "Handbook of the Economics of Finance," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, Elsevier, volume 2, number 2-b, March.
    39. Eckbo, B. Espen & Thorburn, Karin S., 2000. "Gains to Bidder Firms Revisited: Domestic and Foreign Acquisitions in Canada," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 35(1), pages 1-25, March.
    40. Fich, Eliezer M. & Shivdasani, Anil, 2007. "Financial fraud, director reputation, and shareholder wealth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 306-336, November.
    41. Ferris, Stephen P. & Jandik, Tomas & Lawless, Robert M. & Makhija, Anil, 2007. "Derivative Lawsuits as a Corporate Governance Mechanism: Empirical Evidence on Board Changes Surrounding Filings," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 42(1), pages 143-165, March.
    42. Harford, Jarrad, 2005. "What drives merger waves?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(3), pages 529-560, September.
    43. Thomas Bourveau & Yun Lou & Rencheng Wang, 2018. "Shareholder Litigation and Corporate Disclosure: Evidence from Derivative Lawsuits," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 797-842, June.
    44. Ni, Xiaoran & Yin, Sirui, 2018. "Shareholder litigation rights and the cost of debt: Evidence from derivative lawsuits," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 169-186.
    45. Deng, Saiying & Willis, Richard H. & Xu, Li, 2014. "Shareholder Litigation, Reputational Loss, and Bank Loan Contracting," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(4), pages 1101-1132, August.
    46. Sudip Datta & Mai Iskandar‐Datta & Kartik Raman, 2001. "Executive Compensation and Corporate Acquisition Decisions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(6), pages 2299-2336, December.
    47. G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), 2013. "Handbook of the Economics of Finance," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, Elsevier, volume 2, number 2-a, 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. Hassan, M. Kabir & Houston, Reza & Karim, M. Sydul, 2021. "Courting innovation: The effects of litigation risk on corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    2. Al-Hadi, Ahmed & Habib, Ahsan, 2023. "Consequences of state-level regulations in accounting, finance, and corporate governance: A review," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    3. Leonard Leye Li & Gary S. Monroe & Jeff Coulton, 2023. "Managerial litigation risk and corporate investment efficiency: Evidence from universal demand laws," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(1), pages 196-232, March.
    4. Yiwei Li & Wei Song & Tingyu Sun & Qingjing Zhang, 2023. "The impact of shareholder litigation risk on income smoothing," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 61(4), pages 1379-1413, November.
    5. Treepongkaruna, Sirimon & Kyaw, Khine & Jiraporn, Pornsit, 2022. "Shareholder litigation rights and ESG controversies: A quasi-natural experiment," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    6. Degl'Innocenti, Marta & Fiordelisi, Franco & Song, Wei & Zhou, Si, 2023. "Shareholder litigation and bank risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    7. Zhang, Huilin & Boubaker, Sabri & Ni, Xiaoran, 2024. "Litigating payouts or not? Evidence from universal demand laws," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 136-153.
    8. Malm, James & Soyeh, Kenneth W. & Kanuri, Srinidhi, 2023. "Litigation risk and corporate performance," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    9. Wang, Liang & Qi, Jiahan & Zhuang, Hongyu, 2023. "Monitoring or Collusion? Multiple Large Shareholders and Corporate ESG Performance: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).

    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. Andrey Golubov & Dimitris Petmezas & Nickolaos G. Travlos, 2013. "Empirical mergers and acquisitions research: a review of methods, evidence and managerial implications," Chapters, in: Adrian R. Bell & Chris Brooks & Marcel Prokopczuk (ed.), Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Empirical Finance, chapter 12, pages 287-313, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Yiwei Li & Wei Song & Tingyu Sun & Qingjing Zhang, 2023. "The impact of shareholder litigation risk on income smoothing," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 61(4), pages 1379-1413, November.
    3. Chung, Chune Young & Kim, Incheol & Rabarison, Monika K. & To, Thomas Y. & Wu, Eliza, 2020. "Shareholder litigation rights and corporate acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    4. Basnet, Anup & Davis, Frederick & Walker, Thomas & Zhao, Kun, 2021. "The effect of securities class action lawsuits on mergers and acquisitions," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    5. Renneboog, Luc & Vansteenkiste, Cara, 2019. "Failure and success in mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 650-699.
    6. Martynova, M., 2006. "The market for corporate control and corporate governance regulation in Europe," Other publications TiSEM 8651e281-4914-41f2-ac14-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    7. Degl'Innocenti, Marta & Fiordelisi, Franco & Song, Wei & Zhou, Si, 2023. "Shareholder litigation and bank risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    8. Do, Trung K., 2021. "Shareholder litigation rights and corporate payout policy: Evidence from universal demand laws," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    9. Dong, Yizhe & Li, Chang & Li, Haoyu, 2021. "Customer concentration and M&A performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    10. Zhang, Huilin & Boubaker, Sabri & Ni, Xiaoran, 2024. "Litigating payouts or not? Evidence from universal demand laws," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 136-153.
    11. Martynova, M. & Renneboog, L.D.R., 2006. "The Performance of the European Market for Corporate Control : Evidence from the 5th Takeover Wave," Discussion Paper 2006-118, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    12. Le, Nhan & Nguyen, Duc Duy & Sila, Vathunyoo, 2021. "Does shareholder litigation affect the corporate information environment?," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    13. Nguyen, Nam H. & Phan, Hieu V. & Lee, Eunju, 2020. "Shareholder litigation rights and capital structure decisions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    14. Anutchanat Jaroenjitrkam & Sirimon Treepongkaruna & Pornsit Jiraporn, 2022. "Does shareholder litigation risk promote or hinder corporate social responsibility? A quasi‐natural experiment," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(3), pages 657-674, May.
    15. Wilson, Jared I., 2020. "The consequences of limiting shareholder litigation: Evidence from exclusive forum provisions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    16. Alexandridis, G. & Antypas, N. & Travlos, N., 2017. "Value creation from M&As: New evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 632-650.
    17. Duchin, Ran & Schmidt, Breno, 2013. "Riding the merger wave: Uncertainty, reduced monitoring, and bad acquisitions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(1), pages 69-88.
    18. Li, Xiaoyang, 2013. "Productivity, restructuring, and the gains from takeovers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 250-271.
    19. Treepongkaruna, Sirimon & Kyaw, Khine & Jiraporn, Pornsit, 2022. "Shareholder litigation rights and ESG controversies: A quasi-natural experiment," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    20. Saad Alnahedh & Bader Alhashel, 2021. "Political ideology in M&A," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(9-10), pages 1711-1746, October.

    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:finmgt:v:50:y:2021:i:3:p:845-873. 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/fmaaaea.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.