Who knows what when? : The information content of pre-IPO market prices : [Version March/June 2002]

To resolve the IPO underpricing puzzle it is essential to analyze who knows what when during the issuing process. In Germany, broker-dealers make a market in IPOs during the subscription period. We examine these pre-issue prices and find that they are highly informative. They are closer to the first price subsequently established on the exchange than both the midpoint of the bookbuilding range and the offer price. The pre-issue prices explain a large part of the underpricing left unexplained by other variables. The results imply that information asymmetries are much lower than the observed variance of underpricing suggests

Who knows what when? : the information content of pre-IPO market prices : [Version Mai 2004]

To resolve the IPO underpricing puzzle it is essential to analyze who knows what when during the issuing process. In Germany, broker-dealers make a market in IPOs during the subscription period. We examine these pre-issue prices and find that they are highly informative. They are closer to the first price subsequently established on the exchange than both the midpoint of the bookbuilding range and the offer price. The pre-issue prices explain a large part of the underpricing left unexplained by other variables. The results imply that information asymmetries are much lower than the observed variance of underpricing suggests

Local structural excitations in model glasses

Structural excitations of model Lennard-Jones glass systems are investigated using the Activation-Relaxation-Technique (ART), which explores the potential energy landscape of a local minimum energy configuration by converging to a nearby saddle-point configuration. Performing ART results in a distribution of barrier energies that is single-peaked for well relaxed samples. The present work characterises such atomic scale excitations in terms of their local structure and environment. It is found that, at zero applied stress, many of the identified events consist of chain-like excitations that can either be extended or ring-like in their geometry. The location and activation energy of these saddle-point structures are found to correlate with the type of atom involved, and with spatial regions that have low shear moduli and are close to the excess free volume within the configuration. Such correlations are however weak and more generally the identified local structural excitations are seen to exist throughout the model glass sample. The work concludes with a discussion within the framework of $\alpha$ and $\beta$ relaxation processes that are known to occur in the under-cooled liquid regime.Comment: 34 Pages, 13 Figure

Time–temperature–transformation diagram and microstructures of bulk glass forming Pd40Cu30Ni10P20

Isothermal crystallization studies were performed on the bulk glass forming alloy Pd40Cu30Ni10P20 in the undercooled liquid region between the glass transition and liquidus temperature, resulting in a complete time–temperature–transformation (TTT) diagram for crystallization. The TTT diagram shows a typical "C" shape with the nose at 50 s and 680 K. Assuming steady state nucleation and a diffusion-controlled growth rate, the TTT diagram was successfully fit over the entire range of the measurement. The microstructure after isothermal crystallization shows a modulation in Cu and P for all degrees of undercooling. The primary solidified phase is Cu3Pd, which forms distinct dendrites at low undercooling. From additional constant cooling experiments, the critical cooling rate to bypass crystallization was determined to be 0.33 K/s

Shear-band arrest and stress overshoots during inhomogeneous flow in a metallic glass

At the transition from a static to a dynamic deformation regime of a shear band in bulk metallic glasses, stress transients in terms of overshoots are observed. We interpret this phenomenon with a repeated shear-melting transition and are able to access a characteristic time for a liquidlike to solidlike transition in the shear band as a function of temperature, enabling us to understand why shear bands arrest during inhomogenous serrated flow in bulk metallic glasses

Metastable quasicrystal-induced nucleation in a bulk glass-forming liquid

This study presents a unique Mg-based alloy composition in the Mg-Zn-Yb system which exhibits bulk metallic glass, metastable icosahedral quasicrystals (iQCs), and crystalline approximant phases in the as-cast condition. Microscopy revealed a smooth gradual transition from glass to QC. We also report the complete melting of a metastable eutectic phase mixture (including a QC phase), generated via suppression of the metastable-to-stable phase transition at high heating rates using fast differential scanning calorimetry (FDSC). The melting temperature and enthalpy of fusion of this phase mixture could be measured directly, which unambiguously proves its metastability in any temperature range. The kinetic pathway from liquid state to stable solid state (an approximant phase) minimizes the free-energy barrier for nucleation through an intermediate state (metastable QC phase) because of its low solid- liquid interfacial energy. At high undercooling of the liquid, where diffusion is limited, another approximant phase with near-liquid composition forms just above the glass-transition temperature. These experimental results shed light on the competition between metastable and stable crystals, and on glass formation via system frustration associated with the presence of several free-energy minima

Grain-size dependence of intergranular magnetic correlations in nanostructured metals

Magnetic small-angle neutron scattering experiments were performed on nanostructured Fe, Co and Ni samples of varying grain size, produced by inert-gas condensation. The experiments show that the spontaneous spatial magnetic correlations forming in zero-field extend over many individual grains. These correlations depend strongly on grain size. In Fe, they have a minimum at a grain size of around 35 nm and increase sharply for smaller grain sizes. The crossover occurs at grain sizes comparable with L_(crit) = πδ, where δ is the bulk domain-wall width. For grain sizes below L_(crit), the results are explained on the basis of the random-anisotropy model, which takes into account that the magnetic alignment between the grains competes with the anisotropies of the individual grains. Above L_(crit), where domain walls can form within one grain, the magnetization direction corresponds to the anisotropy direction varying from grain to grain, and the magnetic correlation length increases approximately linearly with grain size. Furthermore, the measurements on Fe, Co and Ni show that the spatial magnetic correlations measured by SANS are always larger than L_(crit). This is in agreement with results of theoretical studies showing that nonuniform magnetization configurations can only exist in grains with sizes D > L_(crit)

Stick-slip dynamics and recent insights into shear banding in metallic glasses

Despite extensive research, the understanding of the fundamental processes governing yielding and plastic flow in metallic glasses remains poor. This is due to experimental difficulties in capturing plastic flow as a result of a strong localization in space and time by the formation of shear bands at low homologous temperatures. Unveiling the mechanism of shear banding is hence key to developing a deeper understanding of plastic deformation in metallic glasses. We will compile recent progress in studying the dynamics of shear-band propagation from serrated flow curves. We will also take a perspective gleaned from stick-slip theory and show how the insights gained can be deployed to explain fundamental questions concerning the origin, mechanism, and characteristics of flow localization in metallic glasse

Unternehmensbewertung: Ein Balanceakt zwischen Rationalität und Intuition

Gerwald Mandl ist einer der wenigen Betriebswirte, die von sich behaupten können, dass sie ihre Aufmerksamkeit dem Thema Unternehmensbewertung seit mehr als 20 Jahren kontinuierlich widmen.1 Das hat sich in einer beeindruckenden Fülle von Publikationen niedergeschlagen.2 Als Gutachter in streitigen Bewertungsfällen ist er ein anerkannter und allseits geschätzter Experte. Oft geht es in den Werken von Mandl um die Frage, wie sich Ertragsteuern auf die Ermittlung des Unternehmenswerts auswirken.3 Und nicht minder häufig beschäftigt ihn die Frage, wie im Detail vorzugehen ist, wenn bei der Bewertung von Unternehmen gesetzliche Vorschriften beziehungsweise vom Berufsstand der Wirtschaftsprüfer verabschiedete Regelungen zu beachten sind und gleichzeitig wissenschaftliche Maßstäbe hochgehalten werden sollen.4 Das ist stets eine Gratwanderung, die nicht leicht zu bewältigen ist. Charakteristisch für den Jubilar ist, dass er nicht zu den Einzelkämpfern zählt, sondern sich eher als Team-Arbeiter auszeichnet, der den wissenschaftlichen Disput schätzt und den Rat von Kollegen sucht, ohne allerdings darauf zu verzichten, sich nach sorgfältiger Abwägung am Ende ein eigenes Urteil zu bilden