← Search

Journal of Financial Economics Vol. 100 No. 1 2011

Why do convertible issuers simultaneously repurchase stock? An arbitrage-based explanation

Abe de Jong; Marie Dutordoir1; Patrick Verwijmeren2

1 Manchester School of Architecture · 2 The University of Melbourne

open access

Abstract

Over recent years, a substantial fraction of US convertible bond issues have been combined with a stock repurchase. This paper explores the motivations for these combined transactions. We argue that convertible debt issuers repurchase their stock to facilitate arbitrage-related short selling. In line with this prediction, we show that convertibles combined with a stock repurchase are associated with lower offering discounts, lower stock price pressure, higher expected hedging demand, and lower issue-date short selling than uncombined issues. We also find that convertible arbitrage strategies explain both the size and the speed of execution of the stock repurchases.

DOI
10.1016/j.jfineco.2010.10.016
Volume
100
Issue
1
Pages
113-129
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

Cite