Convertible Bond Issue Announcements and Stock Price Changes: Focusing on Domestic and Offshore CB Issues

Using an event study, this paper investigates stock price reactions on Korean listed firms’ convertible bond (CB) issue announcements over the sample period of January 2000 to November 2007. This study finds that on the Korean Security market, the CB issue announcements are associated with an increase in shareholder wealth on the announcement date. An information leakage by insider traders is also observable at preannouncement dates. Unlike the prior studies that indicate a prevailing negative effect on the announcements, this paper shows that domestic CB issue announcements as well as offshore ones yield a positive impact on the stock prices. This presents that in terms of stock price reactions to the CB issue announcements, the two CB issue markets show the positively same effects on shareholder wealth for the post-2000 period. For its drivers, this paper suggests that on the Korean market, firm size have negative relationship with the increase in the wealth incurred by the announcements. By contrast, an issue to maturity, a growth opportunity, and a relative issue size make a positive impact on it.