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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the accuracy of Australian Real Estate Investment Trust (A-REIT) initial public offering (IPO) dividend forecasts between 1994 and 2016.

This study compares the dividend forecasts of A-REIT IPOs for the first dividend forecast period in the prospectus, with the actual dividend declared for that forecast period. As well as simple descriptive summary measures, this study also employs an exact logistic regression approach to examine the factors that might influence the IPOs achieving or exceeding the dividend forecast.

The study identifies that the dividends declared, on average, were greater than the dividend forecast and that more than nine out of ten of the IPOs listed after 1999 achieved or exceeded their prospectus forecast. In addition the authors observe positive mean forecast errors, suggesting dividend forecasts in A-REIT IPOs, are cautiously biased. This is in contrast to the industrial company data reported in Brown et al. (2000) which suggest dividend forecasts are optimistically biased. The study also finds the A-REIT IPOs that did not forecast a dividend, generally did not pay a dividend.

The results will inform dividend seeking institutional and retail investors of the investment opportunities in A-REIT IPOs.

This paper adds to the discussion of the relative predictability of dividends of A-REIT IPOs compared to industrial company IPOs.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the underpricing of real estate investment trust (REIT) initial public offerings (IPOs) from January 2010 to June 2015, as the sector recovered from the global financial crisis.

This study analyses the first day returns of US REIT IPOs in the post financial crisis period. The study then employs regression analysis to examine the factors that influence IPO underpricing.

The study observes that underpricing, on average, is not significantly different to zero. Furthermore, the REIT IPOs examined display underperformance in the longer term. In contrast to the earlier data samples of Chen and Lu (2006), the authors do not find that underwriting costs are a direct substitute for the indirect cost of underpricing, instead the authors find that higher underwriting costs are associated with higher underpricing. Also in contrast to the mainstream underpricing literature, the data suggest larger capital raisings require higher underpricing. The authors also find that newly listed REITs provided significant excess dividend returns over the post-listing period.

For institutional and retail investors, the results will help to further inform investment opportunities in REIT IPOs.

This paper adds to the ongoing academic debate of the lack of underpricing in REIT IPOs relative to industrial companies. Research has shown periods of underpricing are often replaced with periods of overpricing suggesting that the pattern of behavior in REIT markets is substantially different.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of private placement announcements by Australian Real Estate Investment Trusts (A-REITs) on existing shareholders. The study examines 96 A-REIT private placements from January 2000 to December 2012.

Utilising event study methodology the authors examine the impact on existing shareholders wealth by measuring the abnormal returns (AR) around the placement announcement. The authors extend the analysis to model the A-REITs ARs against a number of explanatory variables to investigate the possible drivers for the observed event study results.

The results support the information signalling hypothesis, in that existing investors in A-REITs earn negative and significant cumulative ARs of −1.3 per cent over the three-day event window [−1, +1]. This result is in contrast to prior studies conducted on industrial firms, for example; Hertzel and Smith (1993), Krishnamurthy et al. (2005) and Wruck and Wu (2009).

Regression analysis shows A-REITs trading at a premium to net tangible assets and A-REITs that use placement funds for their core business have a positive impact on announcement ARs.

This paper adds to the existing literature surrounding private placements and is the first paper, to the authors’ knowledge, to examine the impact of Australian REITs.

Mergers and acquisitions in the real estate investment trust (REIT) sector have been studied in distinct periods and locations, often leading to findings which are relevant only for the period and/or location investigated. The purpose of this paper is to examine the merger and acquisition studies in aggregate using meta‐analysis so that broader findings of factors influencing the returns by targets and bidders are divulged.

Using a methodology similar to Veld and Veld‐Merkoulova a sample of 15 REIT studies with 35 observations for bidders and 25 observations for targets is analysed. A variety of potential factors influencing the returns for bidders and targets are explored.

Consistent with prior non‐REIT research, the evidence shows targets enjoy positive and significant gains in a merger. There is also evidence that acquirers earn significant wealth when all previous studies are examined in aggregate. Meta‐analysis results show targets experience higher wealth gains by accepting cash financed deals, but share total gains when both parties are REITs. Additionally, acquirers enjoy improved abnormal returns when the target is privately listed and the use of scrip and/or a combination of scrip and cash produces higher wealth gains for bidding REITs.

This paper aggregates the merger and acquisition literature of REITs to understand better factors influencing returns made by bidders and targets.

There is a large literature advocating the importance of a greater proportion of women directors on boards of publicly listed firms. The purpose of this paper is to examine the numbers and proportions of women directors, including women executive directors, on listed Australian Real Estate Management and Development (REMD) companies to identify how prevalent women directors are on such boards.

The study examines the numbers and proportions of women directors for 35 REMDs in 2011 and compares this to the broad board composition data on 1,715 Australian Stock Exchange listed entities. Statistically significant findings are evident due to the identified low proportions.

The study finds that of all the Financials Sub Industry sector groups, REMDs have the lowest proportion of female directors on theirs boards – eight women on each of 35 company boards compared to 159 men on these 35 boards at 2011. Of the eight, there were only two women executive directors on boards compared to 50 men. Statistically, it appears that having women directors on REMD boards is not considered important. Even at December 2014, there are only ten women on seven company boards and only one remaining executive director of an REMD company.

Given that female board representation is positively related to accounting returns and that there is a growing voice for legislation to impose mandatory proportions of women directors on boards around the world, it may be in the interests of REMD boards to consider appointing more women more quickly.

The study is the first to examine the numbers and proportions of women directors amongst REMD companies to identify the paucity of such women directors.

Purpose – This paper aims to provide an overview of organizational changes in the New Jersey State Police (NJSP) Investigations Branch and how the Branch has adapted to the paradigm of intelligence‐led policing. The paper also reports on interviews conducted to assess the impact on key staff affected by the change, through the medium of a drug‐gang investigation, Operation Nine Connect. Design/methodology/approach – Both semi‐structured and less formal interviews were conducted with 20 detectives, intelligence analysts and managers. Extensive quotes are employed to demonstrate key points. Furthermore, content analysis of documents related to organizational change in the NJSP and to a large drug‐gang intelligence operation was conducted. Findings – The paper identifies the key tenets of intelligence‐led policing, and describes progress made both organizationally and culturally to move the Investigations Branch to an intelligence‐led policing mindset. Organizational successes were reported, but more limited success was achieved in relation to changing police culture. Practical implications – The paper clarifies the meaning of intelligence‐led policing, and identifies potential road‐blocks to implementation for police departments wishing to move to intelligence‐led policing. Originality/value – The paper identifies the key tenets of intelligence‐led policing, outlines how these were used to determine greater geographic focus in the organizational structure of the New Jersey State Police Investigations Branch, and is a rare examination of the internal workings of a state police investigations branch in relation to a drug‐gang investigation. The paper will be of interest to police executives and managers, and intelligence professionals.

British Air Ferries, the successful Southend‐based charter aircraft Group, has appointed Christopher McCann of County NatWest Ventures to the board of Mostjet, its holding company, as a non‐Executive Director.

Do you use Electronic mail (E‐mail)? Do you know if anyone other than the intended recipient is reading the mail you send? And, what would you do if it fell into the wrong hands? Employees around the world use E‐mail more than a million times a day (Elmer‐Dewitt, 1993). E‐mail is used for a multitude of purposes including telling jokes, discussing confidential matters, or even spreading gossip that could be potentially offensive if overheard by the wrong person. E‐mail is more convenient for most to use rather than having to pick up the phone or wander down a hall to tell someone something. A common misconception many have concerning the use of E‐mail is that it is as private as mail or a phone call (Elmer‐Dewitt, 1993).