Contractual revisions in compensation: evidence from merger bonuses to target CEOs

Do merger bonuses to target CEOs facilitate a wealth transfer from target to acquirer shareholders? We test this hypothesis against an alternative that bonuses enable a useful contractual revision in compensation contracts when takeovers generate small synergies. When target CEOs get a merger bonus, acquirers pay lower premiums, but they also typically get less in the form of low synergies. Moreover, both stock and accounting returns to the acquirers are lower on average in deals with target CEO bonuses. These results support the contractual revision alternative. Nevertheless, wealth transfer occurs when merger bonuses are present in deals where targets exhibit high pre-takeover abnormal accruals or are subject to SEC enforcement actions

Stock option grants to target CEOs during private merger negotiations

Unscheduled stock options to target chief executive officers (CEOs) are a nontrivial phenomenon during private merger negotiations. In 920 acquisition bids during 1999-2007, over 13% of targets grant them. These options substitute for golden parachutes and compensate target CEOs for the benefits they forfeit because of the merger. Targets granting unscheduled options are more likely to be acquired but they earn lower premiums. Consequently, deal value drops by '62 for every dollar target CEOs receive from unscheduled options. Conversely, acquirers of targets offering these awards experience higher returns. Therefore, deals involving unscheduled grants exhibit a transfer of wealth from target shareholders to bidder shareholders

Motivated monitors: the importance of institutional investors’ portfolio weights

Studies of institutional monitoring focus on the fraction of the firm held by institutions. We focus on the fraction of the institution’s portfolio represented by the firm. In the context of acquisitions, we hypothesize that institutional monitoring will be greatest when the target firm represents a significant allocation of funds in the institution’s portfolio. We show that this measure is important in reconciling mixed findings for total institutional ownership in the prior literature. The results indicate that our measure of institutional holdings leads to greater bid completion rates, higher premiums and lower acquirer returns. This empirical evidence provides support for theories predicting a beneficial effect of blockholders in monitoring the firm in general and in enhancing the gains to takeover targets in particular

Øresundskonsortiets samlede trafikprognose: – barrierer og følsomheder

Øresundsmodellen er en korridormodel, der beskriver trafikken i Sydskandinavien med fokus på trafikken over Øresundsbroen. I artiklen beskrives en prognose for år 2000, og der ses på trafikspringets størrelse og hvor meget trafik, der overføres fra eksisterende færgeruter. Der indgår i Øresundsmodellen to sæt barrierekonstanter, økonomiske og kulturelle, der i priser beskriver afvigelsen mellem det aktuelle trafikniveau i Øresundsregionen og det naturlige trafikniveau. Modellens følsomhed med hensyn til barrierekonstanterne beskrives ved hjælp af en 20 pct.’s reduktion af disse

Star formation in the giant HII regions of M101

The molecular components of three giant HII regions (NGC 5461, NGC 5462, NGC 5471) in the galaxy M101 are investigated with new observations from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, the NRAO 12-meter, and the Owens Valley millimeter array. Of the three HII regions, only NGC 5461 had previously been detected in CO emission. We calculate preliminary values for the molecular mass of the GMCs in NGC 5461 by assuming a CO-to-H_2 factor (X factor) and then compare these values with the virial masses. We conclude that the data in this paper demonstrate for the first time that the value of X may decrease in regions with intense star formation. The molecular mass for the association of clouds in NGC 5461 is approximately 3x10^7 Mo and is accompanied by 1-2 times as much atomic mass. The observed CO emission in NGC 5461 is an order of magnitude stronger than in NGC 5462, while it was not possible to detect molecular gas toward NGC 5471 with the JCMT. An even larger ratio of atomic to molecular gas in NGC 5471 was observed, which might be attributed to efficient conversion of molecular to atomic gas. The masses of the individual clouds in NGC 5461, which are gravitationally bound, cover a range of (2-8) x 10^5 Mo, comparable with the masses of Galactic giant molecular clouds (GMCs). Higher star forming efficiencies, and not massive clouds, appear to be the prerequisite for the formation of the large number of stars whose radiation is required to produce the giant HII regions in M101.Comment: 32 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Succinct Indexable Dictionaries with Applications to Encoding kk-ary Trees, Prefix Sums and Multisets

We consider the {\it indexable dictionary} problem, which consists of storing a set $S \subseteq \{0,...,m-1\}$ for some integer $m$, while supporting the operations of \Rank(x), which returns the number of elements in $S$ that are less than $x$ if $x \in S$, and -1 otherwise; and \Select(i) which returns the $i$-th smallest element in $S$. We give a data structure that supports both operations in O(1) time on the RAM model and requires ${\cal B}(n,m) + o(n) + O(\lg \lg m)$ bits to store a set of size $n$, where {\cal B}(n,m) = \ceil{\lg {m \choose n}} is the minimum number of bits required to store any $n$-element subset from a universe of size $m$. Previous dictionaries taking this space only supported (yes/no) membership queries in O(1) time. In the cell probe model we can remove the $O(\lg \lg m)$ additive term in the space bound, answering a question raised by Fich and Miltersen, and Pagh. We present extensions and applications of our indexable dictionary data structure, including: An information-theoretically optimal representation of a $k$-ary cardinal tree that supports standard operations in constant time, A representation of a multiset of size $n$ from $\{0,...,m-1\}$ in ${\cal B}(n,m+n) + o(n)$ bits that supports (appropriate generalizations of) \Rank and \Select operations in constant time, and A representation of a sequence of $n$ non-negative integers summing up to $m$ in ${\cal B}(n,m+n) + o(n)$ bits that supports prefix sum queries in constant time.Comment: Final version of SODA 2002 paper; supersedes Leicester Tech report 2002/1

The environment of the infrared dust bubble N65: a mutiwavelength study

AIMS: We investigate the environment of the infrared dust bubble N65 and search for evidence of triggered star formation in its surroundings. METHODS: We performed a multiwavelength study of the region around N65 with data taken from large-scale surveys: Two Micron All Sky Survey, GLIMPSE, MIPSGAL, SCUBA, and GRS. We analyzed the distribution of the molecular gas and dust in the environment of N65 and performed infrared photometry and spectral analysis of point sources to search for young stellar objects and identify the ionizing star candidates. RESULTS: We found a molecular cloud that appears to be fragmented into smaller clumps along the N65 PDR. This indicates that the so-called collect and collapse process may be occurring. Several young stellar objects are distributed among the molecular clumps. They may represent a second generation of stars whose formation was triggered by the bubble expanding into the molecular gas. We dentified O-type stars inside N65, which are the most reliable ionizing star candidates.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in A&A. Figures degraded to reduce file siz

A young double stellar cluster in a HII region, emerging from its parent molecular cloud

We report the properties of a new young double stellar cluster in the region towards IRAS 07141-0920 contained in the HII region Sh2-294. High-resolution optical UBVRI and Halpha images, near-infrared JHKs and H2 filter images were used to make photometric and morphological studies of the point sources and the nebula seen towards Sh2-294. The optical images reveal an emission nebula with very rich morphological details, composed mainly of UV scattered light and of Halpha emission. Contrasting with the bright parts of the nebula, opaque, elongated patches are seen. Our optical photometry confirms that the illuminator of the nebula is likely to be a B0.5V star located at a distance of about 3.2 kpc. Our near-IR images reveal an embedded cluster, extending for about 2 pc and exhibiting sub-clustering: a denser, more condensed, sub-cluster surrounding the optical high-mass B0.5V illuminator star; and a more embedded, optically invisible, sub-cluster located towards the eastern, dark part of the nebula and including the luminous MSX source G224.1880+01.2407, a massive protostellar candidate that could be the origin of jets and extended features seen at 2.12 micron. The double cluster appears to be clearing the remaining molecular material of the parent cloud, creating patches of lower extinction and allowing some of the least reddened members to be detected in the optical images. We find 12 MS and 143 PMS members using 3 different methods: comparison with isochrones in optical colour-magnitude diagrams, detection of near-IR excess, and presence of Halpha emission. The most massive star fits a 4 Myr post-MS isochrone. The age of the optically selected PMS population is estimated to be 7-8 Myr. The IR-excess population shows sub-clustering on scales as small as 0.23 pc and is probably much younger.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figure

Detection of a new, low-brightness supernova remnant possibly associated with EGRET sources

We report on the discovery of a shell-type supernova remnant in the southern sky. It is a large (8*8), low-brightness source with a nonthermal radio spectrum, which requires background filtering to isolate it from the diffuse background emission of the Galaxy. Three 3EG gamma-ray sources are spatially correlated with the radio structure. We have made 21-cm line observations of the region and found that two of these sources are coincident with HI clouds. We propose that the gamma-ray emission is the result of hadronic interactions between high-energy protons locally accelerated at the remnant shock front and atomic nuclei in the ambient clouds.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure