We investigate termination fee size in mergers. Although the deal premium does not significantly affect fee size, smaller targets and targets with lower institutional ownership offer larger fees. Low or moderate fees do not eliminate post-announcement competing bids, while large fees do. Fee size is generally positively correlated with deal completion. However, large fees are negatively correlated with the consummation of high-premium deals. Fee size is generally unrelated to announcement-date cumulative abnormal returns. However, returns are significantly lower for deals including fees larger than 5%. Overall, the study provides evidence that low- or moderate-size fees serve as efficient contractual devices, while large fees are less beneficial to shareholders and therefore tend to suggest agency conflicts.

We examine the effect on expected flotation costs of including co-managers in the underwriting syndicate. We consider five components of SEO flotation costs: announcement returns, underpricing, the probability of withdrawals, offering delays, and underwriting spreads. The results show that the characteristics of co-managers participating in syndicates have significant effects on flotation costs, while the effect of the number of co-managers is largely insignificant. Our results are consistent with the notion that highly reputable underwriters and commercial banks serving as co-managers serve a certification role, reducing information asymmetries and, as a result, lowering SEO flotation costs.

One of the primary goals of a firm going public is to create a greater visibility to investors in general. Using a sample of 809 IPOs from 2001–2010, we empirically examine and find that multiple lead underwriters (MLUs) have greater visibility through our five pre- and post-IPO visibility measures. This also holds after accounting for potential endogeneity. Also, MLU-IPOs do not have more underpricing. Our results suggest that issuers with MLUs can increase the firm’s familiarity to the investment community and expand their investor base, and this increased firm visibility is not a trade-off for a greater level of underpricing.