We examine how directors with investment banking experience affect firms׳ acquisition behavior. We find that firms with investment bankers on the board have a higher probability of making ...acquisitions. Furthermore, acquirers with investment banker directors experience higher announcement returns, pay lower takeover premiums and advisory fees, and exhibit superior long-run performance. Overall, our results suggest that directors with investment banking experience help firms make better acquisitions, both by identifying suitable targets and by reducing the cost of the deals.
In this work, silicon/carbon composites for anode electrodes of Li-ion batteries are prepared from Elkem's Silgrain® line. Gentle ball milling is used to reduce particle size of Silgrain, and the ...resulting Si powder consists of micrometic Si with some impurities. Silicon/carbon composite with CMC/SBR as a dual binder can achieve more than 1200 cycles with a capacity of 1000 mAh g
of Si. This excellent electrochemical performance can be attributed to the use of a buffer as a solvent to control the pH of the electrode slurry, and hence the bonding properties of the binder to the silicon particles. In addition, the use of FEC as an electrolyte additive is greatly contributing to a stabilized cycling by creating a more robust SEI layer. This work clearly demonstrates the potential of industrial battery grade silicon from Elkem.
The Effect of Labor Unions on CEO Compensation Huang, Qianqian; Jiang, Feng; Lie, Erik ...
Journal of financial and quantitative analysis,
04/2017, Volume:
52, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
We find evidence that labor unions affect chief executive officer (CEO) compensation. First, we find that firms with strong unions pay their CEOs less. The negative effect is robust to various tests ...for endogeneity, including cross-sectional variations and a regression discontinuity design. Second, we find that CEO compensation is curbed before union contract negotiations, especially when the compensation is discretionary and the unions have a strong bargaining position. Third, we report that curbing CEO compensation mitigates the chance of a labor strike, thus providing a rationale for firms to pay CEOs less when facing strong unions.
Abstract
Silicon, while suffering from major degradation issues, has been recognized as a next promising material to replace currently used graphite in the anodes of Li-ion batteries. Several ...pathways to mitigate the capacity fading of silicon has been proposed, including optimization of the electrode composition. Within the present work we evaluated different binder formulations to improve the long-term performance of the Li-ion batteries’ anodes based on industrial grade silicon (Si) which is typically characterized by a particle sizes ranging from 100 nm to 5.5 microns. The decrease of pH in a binder formulation was found to detrimental for the cycling performance of Si due to enhanced formation of an ester-type bonding between the carboxylic group of the binder and hydroxyl group on the Si surface as well as cross-linking. Furthermore, the present work was focused on the use of the industrial grade Si with very high loading of Si material (up to 80% by weight) to better highlight the effects of the surface chemistry of Si and its influence on the performance of Si-based anodes in Li-ion batteries. The tested system allowed to establish a
pseudo
self-healing effect that manifests itself through the restoration of the anode capacity by approximately 25% and initiates after approximately 20 cycles. The stabilization of the capacity is attributed to self-limiting lithiation process. Such effect is closely related to SEI formation and transport properties of an electrode prepared from silicon of industrial grade.
I document that operating performance improves following 4,729 announcements of open market share repurchase programs from 1981 to 2000. Moreover, the capital market responds favorably to earnings ...announcements after the program announcements. Further analysis reveals that both the operating performance improvement and the positive earnings announcement returns are limited to those firms that actually repurchase shares during the same fiscal quarter. Last, I report that a subsample of firms that initiate the repurchases in quarters following the program announcements experience improvements after the initiation quarter, suggesting that actual repurchases, and not announcements per se, portend future performance improvements.
In-situ weathered bedrock, saprolite, is locally found in Scandinavia, where it is commonly thought to represent pre-Pleistocene weathering possibly associated with landscape formation. The age of ...weathering, however, remains loosely constrained, which has an impact on existing geological and landscape evolution models and morphotectonic correlations. Here we provide new geochronological evidence that some of the low-altitude basement landforms on- and offshore southwestern Scandinavia are a rejuvenated geomorphological relic from Mesozoic times. K-Ar dating of authigenic, syn-weathering illite from saprolitic remnants constrains original basement exposure in the Late Triassic (221.3±7.0-206.2±4.2 Ma) through deep weathering in a warm climate and subsequent partial mobilization of the saprolitic mantle into the overlying sediment cascade system. The data support the bulk geomorphological development of west Scandinavia coastal basement rocks during the Mesozoic and later, long-lasting relative tectonic stability. Pleistocene glaciations played an additional geomorphological role, selectively stripping the landscape from the Mesozoic overburden and carving glacial landforms down to Plio-Pleistocene times. Saprolite K-Ar dating offers unprecedented possibilities to study past weathering and landscape evolution processes.
As the title of the correspondence by Fossen et al. suggests, determining the age of landscape elements of the Earth surface is difficult. We thus welcome the opportunity to clarify our arguments on ...the contentious themes touched upon by Fredin et al.
I report evidence that shareholders holding a combined 15% of shares are inattentive or partially inattentive when confronted with the decision to receive cash or stock for their shares in ...acquisitions. The average cost of such inattention is 2%, and it increases to 6% for the tertile of transactions with the greatest difference between the cash and stock values. Most interestingly, I show that inattention affects stock prices because attentive shareholders bid up the stock price in anticipation of a wealth transfer from inattentive shareholders.
We find that, on average, firms close 31% of their gap between target and actual cash ratio each year. The adjustment speed is generally swifter if the actual cash ratio exceeds the target ratio, ...possibly because it is cheaper to disgorge cash than it is to raise it. But as firms become more insulated from the threat of takeovers, they decelerate their cash adjustment at high cash ratios. This evidence suggests that self-interested managers are reluctant to disburse excess cash, and they will allow cash levels to remain high unless the firms are subject to external pressure.
•Firms close 31% of their gap between target and actual cash ratio each year.•The adjustment speed is swifter if the actual cash ratio exceeds the target ratio.•Managerial entrenchment decelerates adjustment at high cash ratios.
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