Asia-Pacific Journal of Financial Studies最新文献

This study examines the signaling role of lockup extensions for initial public offering (IPO) firms subject to mandatory lockup provisions. The sample contains IPO firms that went public in the Korean stock market, which reduced the mandatory lockup period over the sample period. This study finds that (1) IPO underpricing is negatively related to the lockup extension length after the reform, and (2) the negative relationship in the post-reform period is stronger for firms characterized by high information asymmetry. The results imply that lockup extensions may reduce information asymmetry related to IPO underpricing when information asymmetry is acute.

In this paper, we develop an intelligent approach to detect default risk of FinTech lending platforms. Using China's peer-to-peer (P2P) lending market as an empirical application, we assemble a unique dataset of matched default and non-default platforms. We apply state-of-art techniques to extract sentiment and topic features from several stakeholders' social media data, which are used as supportive soft information. Our approach exhibits better predictive abilities than those with hard information only, where the value of dynamic soft information is demonstrated. Our approach serves as a proof of concept to complement traditional methods of financial risk prediction.

While there is an increasing debate about whether having multiple CEOs is beneficial to firms, few empirical studies have examined stock returns' consequences after adopting the co-CEO structure. Set in the Korean context, where the co-CEO structure is a common corporate practice, we find that co-CEO adoption has subsequently led to better stock performance than adherence to a sole-CEO structure. Moreover, given the diverse circumstances in which firms operate, co-CEO structure adoption does not guarantee success. We find evidence that the co-CEO structure's superior performance over the sole-CEO structure is concentrated in high-growth subsamples.

This study investigates the motive for dividends by examining the relationship between dividends and banks' institutional depositors during the global financial crisis. The results indicate that during the financial crisis, the higher the deposit ratio of institutional depositors to the total insured deposits was, the lower the dividend payments were. This may be attributable to the fact that during the financial crisis, banks significantly reduced their dividends because they were under close monitoring due to the fear that institutional depositors would overreact to disadvantageous policy and cause a bank run.

Investors overprice goodwill value acquired from a private target during a merger and acquisition (M&A) announcement. However, the overpricing of goodwill is corrected in the years following the deal's completion. Our results show that investors predict the decreasing value of goodwill and promptly adjust their pricing regardless of goodwill impairment. The differential market reactions to goodwill between private and public targets are economically significant. The pricing on goodwill obtained from a private target is 47% higher around the announcements and 44% (33%) lower one (two) year(s) after the M&A completion than that from the public target.

Based on data from the Renrendai platform in China, this paper studies the impacts of marital status on funding success and default. Probit models are employed to perform the main regressions. The empirical results show that married borrowers have the highest rate of funding success, followed by divorced and single borrowers. Although the default risk of divorced borrowers is higher than that of married borrowers, it is not different from that of single borrowers. In addition, this paper uncovers an important joint effect of marital status and education on online lending.

This paper examines whether and how stock pledging by a firm's largest shareholder affects the conflict of interest between shareholders and creditors. We find such stock pledging is negatively associated with corporate risk-taking. This association is more pronounced for companies with high debt costs before such pledging, with dominant controlling shareholders, and those whose largest shareholders  borrow from small lenders. Further, we find firms subject to such pledging are more likely to be granted new private loans and exhibit greater investment efficiency. Overall, stock pledging by a firm's largest shareholder unintentionally mitigates the shareholder–creditor conflict by reducing corporations' pursuit of risky investments.

We review the burgeoning sustainable finance literature, emphasizing the value implications of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) and CSR (corporate social responsibility) practices. We use a discounted cash flow valuation framework to identify value drivers through which such practices can enhance firm value. Collectively, empirical evidence supports that they increase firm value by motivating employees, strengthening customer–supplier relationships, boosting long-term growth, increasing dividends, and reducing financing costs. Furthermore, more socially responsible firms deliver no higher excess stock returns in the long run. Green bonds neither provide issuers with a price premium nor make investors sacrifice on lower returns. Socially responsible investing (SRI) funds generate no higher risk-adjusted long-term returns than non-SRI funds. Finally, we briefly suggest several topics for future research on sustainable finance.

Based on manually collected data relating to board internationalization, measured as directors' experience gained in developed countries, this paper explores the relationship between directors' foreign experience and the environmental information disclosure of Chinese heavily polluting firms from 2016 to 2019. We find that directors' foreign experience has a significant positive impact on environmental information disclosure. These findings are robust and consistent across various analytical models. In addition, empirical evidence shows that the positive effect of directors' foreign experience on environmental information disclosure is more significant in state-owned enterprises and firms with foreign ownership. Our research has important implications for policy-makers and regulators.