We perform portfolio-level analyses to understand insurance firms’ preferred habitat behavior in the government bond market. Based on portfolio durations and portfolio weights across maturities, we find that interest rate risk exposures of insurers’ portfolios are related to their operating liabilities and financing constraints. We show that this habitat behavior significantly affects bond pricing. During the “quantitative easing” era, bond purchases by the Federal Reserve have a larger impact on the yields of Treasury bonds with a higher habitat demand.

The overwhelming majority of Chinese firms that list their stock both in China and abroad had gone public, and listed, abroad first. We find that when companies listed abroad return to China to issue stock and list, they experience poorer post-issuance stock and operating performance in comparison to purely domestic issuers. Also, they raise more funds relative to their sales, leave less money on the table for investors, and incur lower direct flotation costs. Among returning firms, those which raise higher proceeds relative to sales experience poorer long-run stock performance and lower Tobin’s q post issuance. Our results offer a new perspective on cross-listing, which we term ‘dressing-up-for-premium’. Firms from less-developed markets take advantage of the enhanced visibility and prestige associated with the foreign listing to issue shares domestically at inflated prices and favorable terms, and to raise greater proceeds than they can efficiently use.

Corporations often use affiliated firms as guarantors when issuing guaranteed bonds, thus combining external financing with internal credit enhancements. In this study, we empirically examine the potential determinants of corporate guaranteed debt issuance. We find evidence that issuers with fewer tangible assets, lower credit ratings, more pronounced debt overhang and/or greater managerial agency problems are more likely to issue guaranteed bonds. Moreover, we find that while firms generally issue guaranteed bonds with different motives, alternative incentives for guaranteed bond uses are largely captured by bond prices at issuance.