Ancient redwoods and the politics of finance: the hostile takeover of the Pacific Lumber Company

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: DeAngelo, H; DeAngelo, L
• 署名单位: University of Southern California
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/S0304-405X(97)00036-6
• 发表日期: 1998
• 页码: 3-53
• 关键词: Takeovers; Junk bonds; politics of finance; Environmental economics

摘要

Pacific Lumber was acquired in 1986 by MAXXAM, whose decision to double PL's harvest of old-growth redwoods precipitated 11 years of environmental protests. Intense media coverage blames the Drexel-financed takeover for threatening Headwaters Forest, the largest privately owned ancient redwood forest. This 'Wall Street greed' portrayal aroused such public outrage that the Clinton administration agreed to pay $380 million for Headwaters weeks before the 1996 election. We establish that the threat to Headwaters is not attributable to MAXXAM's junk bond-financed takeover. Government's response to dramatic crises encourages interest groups to use emotional appeals to influence resource allocation. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.