Dr Anup Basnet

This paper investigates whether shareholder class action litigation affects the takeover candidacy, premium, and completion rate of mergers and acquisitions involving defendant target firms. We use a comprehensive dataset of publicly traded U.S. firms that became the targets of takeover bids between 1998 and 2016 and find that firms subject to shareholder class action lawsuits within the previous two years are more likely to be targeted for acquisition while commanding a significantly higher premium. Firms that face such litigation after a takeover announcement experience a significant decrease in takeover completion.

The authors find that larger firms tend to invest more in green projects, whereas firms that are highly valued or more profitable are less likely to go green. In terms of country-level determinants, we find that the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and population are positively related with GI, while GDP growth and surface area are negatively associated with GI. Additionally, firms in common-law countries and English-speaking countries make fewer GI than firms in other countries.

We examine why venture capital firms re-invest in portfolio companies also after the IPO. Companies are taken public earlier than optimal, resulting in lower post-IPO returns, and a greater likelihood of, and shorter time to, the first post-IPO VC refinancing.

We study firms’ decisions to stay or leave the Russian market amid the invasion of Ukraine. Lower ESG scores increase the likelihood of keeping the Russian operations unchanged. Higher scores lead to less negative stock market reactions following complete exits.