Public information and IPO underpricing

We analyze the effect of public information on rational investors' incentives to reveal private information during the bookbuilding process and their demand for allocations in the IPO. Our model generates several new predictions. First, investors require more underpricing to truthfully reveal positive private information in bear markets than in bull markets (the incentive effect). Second, the fraction of positive private signals and of underpriced IPOs is increasing in market returns (the demand effect). Combined, these two effects can explain why IPO underpricing is positively related to pre-issue market returns, consistent with extant evidence. Using a sample of 5,000 U.S. IPOs from 1981-2008, we show that the empirical implications of the model are borne out in the data.Public information; partial adjustment; underpricing; IPOs; bookbuilding

Corporate restructuring

We survey the empirical literature on corporate nancial restructuring, including breakup transactions (divestitures, spin-o s, equity carveouts, tracking stocks), leveraged recapitalizations, and leveraged buyouts (LBOs). For each transaction type, we survey techniques, deal nancing, transaction volume, valuation e ects and potential sources of restructuring gains. Many breakup transactions are a response to excessive conglomeration and reverse costly diversi cation discounts. The empirical evidence shows that the typical restructuring creates substantial value for shareholders. The value-drivers include elimination of costly cross-subsidizations characterizing internal capital markets, reduction in nancing costs for subsidiaries through asset securitization and increased divisional transparency, improved (and more focused) investment programs, reduction in agency costs of free cash ow, implementation of executive compensation schemes with greater pay-performance sensitivity, and increased monitoring by lenders and LBO sponsors. Buyouts after the turn of the century created value similar to LBOs of the 1980s. Recent developments include consortiums of private equity funds (club deals), exits through secondary buyouts (sale to another LBO fund), and evidence of persistence in fund returns. LBO deal nancing has evolved towards lower leverage ratios. In Europe, recent deals are nanced with less leveraged loans and mezzanine debt and more high-yield debt than before. Future research challenges include integrating analyses across transaction types and nancing mixes, and producing unbiased estimates of the expected return from buyout investments in the presence of limited data on portfolio companies that do not return to public status

Merger negotiations with stock market feedback

Merger negotiations routinely occur amidst economically significant a target stock price runups. Since the source of the runup is unobservable (is it a target stand-alone value change and/or deal anticipation?), feeding the runup back into the offer price risks "paying twice" for the target shares. We present a novel structural empirical analysis of this runup feedback hypothesis. We show that rational deal anticipation implies a nonlinear relationship between the runup and the offer price markup (offer price minus runup). Our large-sample tests confirm the existence of this nonlinearity and reject the feedback hypothesis for the portion of the runup not driven by the market return over the runup period. Also, rational bidding implies that bidder takeover gains are increasing in target runups, which our evidence supports. Bidder toehold acquisitions in the runup period are shown to fuel target runups, but lower rather than raise offer premiums. We conclude that the parties to merger negotiations interpret market-adjusted target runups as reflecting deal anticipation.Merger negotiations; stock market feedback

Studies of the Diffuse Interstellar Bands. III. HD 183143

Echelle spectra of HD 183143 [B7Iae, E(B-V) = 1.27] were obtained on three nights, at a resolving power R = 38,000 and with a signal-to-noise ratio ~1000 at 6400 A in the final, combined spectrum. A catalog is presented of 414 diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) measured between 3900 and 8100 A in this spectrum. The central wavelengths, the widths (FWHM), and the equivalent widths of nearly all of the bands are tabulated, along with the minimum uncertainties in the latter. Among the 414 bands, 135 (or 33%) were not reported in four previous, modern surveys of the DIBs in the spectra of various stars, including HD 183143. The principal result of this study is that the great majority of the bands in the catalog are very weak and fairly narrow. Typical equivalent widths amount to a few mA, and the bandwidths (FWHM) are most often near 0.7 A. No preferred wavenumber spacings among the 414 bands are identified which could provide clues to the identities of the large molecules thought to cause the DIBs. At generally comparable detection limits in both spectra, the population of DIBs observed toward HD 183143 is systematically redder, broader, and stronger than that seen toward HD 204827 (Paper II). In addition, interstellar lines of C2 molecules have not been detected toward HD 183143, while a very high value of N(C2)/E(B-V) is observed toward HD 204827. Therefore, either the abundances of the large molecules presumed to give rise to the DIBs, or the physical conditions in the absorbing clouds, or both, must differ significantly between the two cases.Comment: Additional data and figures available at http://dibdata.org. To appear as Astrophysical Journal, 705, 32-45 (Nov. 1, 2009

Chalk cliff retreat in East Sussex and Kent 1870s to 2001

The retreat of chalk cliffs fringing the eastern English Channel contributes shingle to the beaches which helps to protect the cliffs and slow down erosion. Conversely, cliff retreat endangers settlements and infrastructure on the clifftop. Rates of retreat have been calculated by a variety of methods over the past century, but no attempt has been made to provide a complete coverage that allows for a true comparison of retreat rates over the entire coastline. Using historic maps and recent orthophotos, cliff retreat rates have been calculated for consecutive 50 m sections of chalk cliff along the English side of the entire eastern English Channel for a period of 125 years. The chalk cliffs of East Sussex erode at an average rate of 0.25 - 0.3 m y−1 while those in Kent at a rate of 0.1 m y−1

A southern hemisphere survey of the 5780 and 6284 {\AA} diffuse interstellar bands: correlation with the extinction

We present a new database of 5780.5 and 6283.8 {\AA} DIB measurements and also study their correlation with the reddening. The database is based on high-resolution, high-quality spectra of early-type nearby stars located in the southern hemisphere at an average distance of 300 pc. Equivalent widths of the two DIBs were determined by means of a realistic continuum fitting and synthetic atmospheric transmissions. For all stars that possess a precise measurement of their color excess, we compare the DIBs and the extinction. We find average linear relationships of the DIBS and the color excess that agree well with those of a previous survey of northern hemisphere stars closer than 550 pc. This similarity shows that there is no significant spatial dependence of the average relationship in the solar neighborhood within $\simeq$ 600 pc. A noticeably different result is our higher degree of correlation of the two DIBs with the extinction. We demonstrate that it is simply due to the lower temperature and intrinsic luminosity of our targets. Using cooler target stars reduces the number of outliers, especially for nearby stars, confirming that the radiation field of UV bright stars has a significant influence on the DIB strength. We have used the cleanest data to compute updated DIB shapes.Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics (in press

BBN and the Primordial Abundances

The relic abundances of the light elements synthesized during the first few minutes of the evolution of the Universe provide unique probes of cosmology and the building blocks for stellar and galactic chemical evolution, while also enabling constraints on the baryon (nucleon) density and on models of particle physics beyond the standard model. Recent WMAP analyses of the CBR temperature fluctuation spectrum, combined with other, relevant, observational data, has yielded very tight constraints on the baryon density, permitting a detailed, quantitative confrontation of the predictions of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis with the post-BBN abundances inferred from observational data. The current status of this comparison is presented, with an emphasis on the challenges to astronomy, astrophysics, particle physics, and cosmology it identifies.Comment: To appear in the Proceedings of the ESO/Arcetri Workshop on "Chemical Abundances and Mixing in Stars in the Milky Way and its Satellites", eds., L. Pasquini and S. Randich (Springer-Verlag Series, "ESO Astrophysics Symposia"

On the possible existence of a self-regulating hydrodynamical process in slowly rotating stars II. Lithium Plateau in Halo Stars and Primordial Abundance

The lithium plateau observed in halo stars has long appeared as a paradox in the general context of the lithium abundance behavior in stellar outer layers. First, the plateau is flat, second, the lithium abundance dispersion is extremely small. This seems in contradiction with the large lithium variations observed in younger stars. It is also difficult to understand theoretically as lithium nuclei are easily destroyed by nuclear reactions, and subject to microscopic diffusion which, in the case of halo stars, should also lead to depletion. Several ideas have been proposed to account for the lithium behavior in halo stars. The most promising possibilities were rotational-induced mixing, which could reduce lithium in the same way for all the stars, and mass-loss, which could oppose the lithium settling. In both cases however, the parameters should be tightly adjusted to prevent any dispersion in the final results. Vauclair 1999 (paper I) pointed out that the mu-gradient terms which appear in the computations of the meridional circulation velocity were not introduced in previous computations of rotationally-induced mixing. This can lead to a self-regulating process which reduces the efficiency of the meridional circulation as well as the microscopic diffusion. Here we present numerical computations of this process and its influence on the lithium abundance variations in halo stars. We show that in slowly rotating stars, under some conditions, lithium can be depleted by a factor of up to two with a dispersion smaller than 0.1 dex in the middle part of the lithium plateau. We derive a primordial lithium abundance of 2.5 +/- 0.1, consistent with the recent determinations of D/H and 4He/H.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures. to be published in A&

Palliative care for cirrhosis: a UK survey of health professionals' perceptions, current practice and future needs

Objective: To determine the knowledge and practice patterns of a UK cohort of relevant healthcare professionals (HCPs) about delivering palliative care in cirrhosis, and to inform priorities for future research. / Design: An on-line questionnaire survey with closed and open responses. / Setting: HCPs identified from the mailing list of special interest groups in hepatology and gastroenterology (liver), general practice and specialist palliative care (SPC) across the UK. / Results: Of the 6181 potential contacts identified, 517 HCPs responded. Most believed a role exists for SPC in caring for people with cirrhosis, but many SPC HCPs felt ill prepared to provide good care to those facing death. Further training was needed in managing liver-related symptoms, symptom control and end of life issues. All HCP groups wished to increase community provision of palliative care support, but many general practitioners felt unable to manage advanced cirrhosis in the community. There were differences in the optimal trigger for SPC referral with liver HCPs less likely to refer at symptom deterioration. Prognostication, symptom management and service configuration were key areas identified for future research. / Conclusions: All who responded acknowledged the role of SPC in caring for those dying with cirrhosis and need for further training to improve confidence and enable joint working between SPC, general practice and liver teams. Low response rates make it difficult to generalise these findings, which require further validation

Lithium evolution in intermediate age and old open clusters: NGC 752 revisited

We present new high resolution spectroscopic observations of the intermediate age (~2 Gyr) open cluster NGC 752. We investigate the Li vs. Teff distribution and we obtain a new accurate determination of the cluster metallicity. We compare the results for NGC 752 with other intermediate age and old clusters spanning the age range from the Hyades (~0.6 Gyr) to NGC 188 (~6-8 Gyr). We find that NGC 752 has a solar iron content ([Fe/H]=+0.01+/-0.04), at variance with early reports of sub-solar metallicity. We find that NGC 752 is only slightly more Li depleted than the younger Hyades and has a Li pattern almost identical to that observed in the ~2 Gyr old IC 4651 and NGC 3680. As for the latter clusters, we find that NGC 752 is characterized by a tight Li vs. Teff distribution for solar-type stars, with no evidence for a Li spread as large as the one observed in the solar age solar metallicity M 67. We discuss these results in the framework of mixing mechanisms and Li depletion on the main sequence (MS). We conclude that the development of a large scatter in Li abundances in old open clusters might be an exception rather than the rule (additional observations of old clusters are required), and that metallicity variations of the order of ~0.2 dex do not affect Li depletion after the age of the Hyades.Comment: A&A accepted, 10 pages, 5 ps figure