Cost of Capital Effects and Changes in Growth Expectations Around U.S. Cross-Listings

Posted: 3 Dec 2008 Last revised: 20 Nov 2011

See all articles by Luzi Hail

Luzi Hail

University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Christian Leuz

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI); Leibniz Institute SAFE; CESifo Research Network; Center for Financial Studies (CFS)

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Date Written: December 1, 2008

Abstract

This paper examines whether cross-listing in the U.S. reduces foreign firms' costs of capital. While prior studies show that U.S. cross-listings are associated with substantial increases in firm value, the sources of these valuation effects are not well understood. We estimate cost of capital effects implied by market prices and analyst forecasts, which accounts for changes in growth expectations around cross-listings. We find strong evidence that firms with cross-listings on U.S. exchanges experience a significant decrease in their cost of capital between 70 to 120 basis points. These effects are sustained and still present after the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Consistent with the bonding hypothesis, we find smaller cost of capital reductions for firms that cross-list in the over-the-counter market and for exchange-listed firms from countries with stronger home-country institutions. For exchange-traded cross-listings, the reduction in cost of capital accounts for more than half of the increase in value around cross-listings, whereas for the other types of cross-listings the valuation effects are primarily attributable to contemporaneous revisions in growth expectations.

Keywords: Corporate governance, cross-listing, bonding hypothesis, cost of equity, disclosure, law and finance, international finance

JEL Classification: G12, G14, G15, G38, G30, G38, K22, M41

Suggested Citation

Hail, Luzi and Leuz, Christian, Cost of Capital Effects and Changes in Growth Expectations Around U.S. Cross-Listings (December 1, 2008). Journal of Financial Economics, Vol. 93, No. 3, pp. 428-454, 2009, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1309644

Luzi Hail (Contact Author)

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Christian Leuz

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