The impact of governance characteristics on the stock price of cross listed companies

The study examines the relationship between the country-specific governance characteristics of the origination country and the post-listing returns of cross-listed firms. In addition, the study researches the relative impact of those governance indicators on the abnormal returns of cross-listed stocks following the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act. The positive abnormal returns experienced by foreign companies around their listing in the U.S. are shown to be driven by the governance indicators of their home countries, i.e., the worse the governance characteristics of the origination country are, the higher the abnormal return for a cross-listed firm is. The governance indicators that influence abnormal returns to the highest degree are director liability, rule of law, control of corruption, political and economic development, and the integrity of the legal system. The abnormal returns generated by cross-listed foreign firms after the adoption of SOX are higher than those experienced by cross-listed foreign firms in the pre-SOX period. This outcome is pronounced for companies which score the worst on the combined set of country-specific governance characteristics. Thus, the main implication of the study is that foreign companies with a specific set of governance characteristics should consider listing on the U.S. stock markets. To be specific, companies from countries with lower governance standards, as reflected in low scores on director liability and control of corruption, are likely to derive the highest benefits from cross- listing on the NYSE or NASDAQ exchanges.