Portrait of Professor Anh Tran

Professor Anh Tran

Professor of Finance

Cass Business School, Faculty of Finance

Contact

Visit Anh Tran

Room BR5029, Bunhill Row

Postal address

Cass Business School
106 Bunhill Row
London
EC1Y 8TZ
United Kingdom

About

Overview

Professor Anh L. Tran joined the Faculty of Finance at Bayes Business School (formerly Cass Business School) of City, University of London in August 2010 from Drexel University in Philadelphia, USA. He is the Academic Director of the M&A Research Centre, the Director of the Business School's summer courses, a fellow of the Gupta Governance Institute, and a fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy. He is also a founding member, trustee and vice president of the Vietnam Finance Association International.

Professor Tran's research interests are in empirical corporate finance, including mergers and acquisitions, institutional investors, executive compensation, and corporate governance. He has published many research articles in world leading journals including Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and Management Science. His research papers have been presented at more than 40 international conferences and 60 university seminars around the world. He has been a co-chair of the annual academic conference in M&A at the Business School and acting as a journal editorial board member and a reviewer for many journals and conferences in the field.

Professor Tran has received the City University Staff Prize for Outstanding Research, the Business School Staff Prize for Excellent Research Publications, and three times the Business School Excellent Research Publication Awards. His research has been mentioned in various media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the Economist, Bloomberg, the New York Times, the Times, Le Monde, Les Echos, etc.

Professor Tran has taught corporate finance classes at both MSc and undergraduate levels in accounting, banking and finance degrees, as well as executive education. He also has supervised dissertations and offered tutorial and pastoral support to students each year. In addition, he has been acting as an external examiner for degree programmes and for PhD viva exams at the many universities around the world.

Qualifications

  1. PhD, Drexel University, United States, 2010

Employment

  1. Professor of Finance, City, University of London, Aug 2020 – present
  2. Reader (Associate Professor) in Finance, City, University of London, Aug 2015 – Jul 2020
  3. Senior Lecturer in Finance, City, University of London, Aug 2012 – Jul 2015
  4. Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Finance, City, University of London, Aug 2010 – Jul 2012

Fellowships

  1. Fellow, Higher Education Academy, 2020 – present
  2. Fellow, Gupta Governance Institute, 2019 – present

Expertise

Primary topics

  • Corporate Finance
  • Corporate Governance
  • Mergers & Acquisitions

Research students

1st supervisor

  • Siyang Tian, Research Student

Liangrong Chunyu

Attendance: Sep 2016 – present, full-time

Role: 1st Supervisor

Siyang Tian

Attendance: Sep 2014 – present, full-time

Role: 2nd Supervisor

Boran Li

Attendance: Sep 2012 – present, full-time

Role: 1st Supervisor

Publications

Journal articles (7)

  1. Keswani, A., Tran, A.L. and Volpin, P. (2021). Institutional Debt Holder Governance. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis pp. 1–33. doi:10.1017/S0022109020000630.
  2. Blouin, J., Fich, E.M., Rice, E. and Tran, A.L. (2021). Corporate Tax Cuts, Merger Activity, and Shareholder Wealth. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 71(1). doi:10.1016/j.jacceco.2020.101315.
  3. Keswani, A., Stolin, D. and Tran, A.L. (2017). Frenemies: How do financial firms vote on their own kind? Management Science, 63(3), pp. 631–654. doi:10.1287/mnsc.2015.2314.
  4. Fich, E.M., Rice, E.M. and Tran, A.L. (2016). Contractual revisions in compensation: Evidence from merger bonuses to target CEOs. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 61(2-3), pp. 338–368. doi:10.1016/j.jacceco.2015.12.002.
  5. Fich, E.M., Harford, J. and Tran, A.L. (2015). Motivated monitors: The importance of institutional investors׳ portfolio weights. Journal of Financial Economics, 118(1), pp. 21–48. doi:10.1016/j.jfineco.2015.06.014.
  6. Fich, E.M., Tran, A.L. and Walkling, R.A. (2013). On the importance of golden parachutes. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 48(6), pp. 1717–1753. doi:10.1017/S002210901300063X.
  7. Fich, E.M., Cai, J. and Tran, A.L. (2011). Stock option grants to target CEOs during private merger negotiations. Journal of Financial Economics, 101(2), pp. 413–430. doi:10.1016/j.jfineco.2011.03.010.

Professional activities

Editorial activity (3)

  1. European Journal of Finance, Associate editor, 2020 – present.
  2. Corporate Governance: An International Review, Editorial board member, 2019 – present.
  3. Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Management Science, Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Empirical Finance, European Financial Management, European Journal of Finance, Financial Review, International Review of Financial Analysis, Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance, Managerial Finance, Emerging Market Finance and Trade, Referee.

Event/conference

  1. Annual Cass Mergers and Acquisitions Research Centre Conference. (Conference) http://www.cass.city.ac.uk/research-and-faculty/centres/marc (2016). Organising Committee.

Media appearance

  1. Press coverage of research. ________________________________________________________

    Financial Times, “AT&T executives were paid $9m for controversial Time Warner deal” (27 May 2021)

    Drexel News Blog, “Corporate tax cuts impact amount and quality of merger activity” (20 Jun 2017)

    DrexelNow, “Bonuses important to protecting shareholder wealth of acquired companies” (24 May 2017)

    IgnitesEurope, “Does asset management have a corporate culture problem” (4 Oct 2016)

    Economia, “Conflicts of interest undermine shareholder voting” (8 Sep 2016)

    Financial Times, “Asset manager bonuses are not the real problem” (28 Aug 2016)

    Fund Strategy, “Hermes criticises Schroders’ corporate governance breach” (26 Apr 2016)

    Financial Times, “Fund houses favour rivals at annual general meetings” (24 Apr 2016)

    Valuewalk, “Timing stock trades for personal gain by CEOs” (30 Sep 2015)

    Le Monde, “Vous reprendrez bien un peu de bonus, mon cher…” (25 Feb 2015)

    Private Equity Findings, “SPACs: Treasure troves or time bombs” (11 Feb 2014)

    Fox Business, “The value in merger bonuses” (15 Feb 2013)

    Financial News, “Do CEO merger bonuses reduce takeover premiums?” (7 Feb 2013)

    Newswise, “CEOs get merger bonus when selling firms cheaply” (5 Feb 2013)

    US News, “Can huge CEO golden parachutes hurt you” (14 Nov 2012)

    Chronicle Herald, “Golden parachutes seem to be rusting” (15 Jan 2012)

    Economist, “Pay-offs for the boss need to be better designed” (14 Jan 2012)

    Financial Times, “Bereichern sich CEOs auf kosten der aktionäre?” (13 Apr 2011)

    Les Echos, “Les parachutes dorés peuvent nuire aux actionnaires” (7 Mar 2011)

    Le Monde, “Salariés, actionnaires: même combat?” (6 Mar 2011)

    Actusite, “Les parachutes dorés pèsent sur la performance des patrons” (3 Mar 2011)

    News Banques, “Parachute doré et acquisition” (3 Mar 2011)

    Mergers & Acquisitions, “Study: Golden parachutes cheat shareholders” (14 Jan 2011)

    Times, “Golden parachutes cost investors dear” (14 Jan 2011)

    Bloomberg, “U.S. chiefs set for big payoffs sell more cheaply, study says” (13 Jan 2011)

    New York Times, “Take my company, please…” (13 Jan 2011)

    San Francisco Chronicle “Mr. President, could I ask you something?” (15 Oct 2009)

    CNBC, “Do unscheduled options to CEOs during merger talks create perverse incentives?” (12 Oct 2009)

    Wall Street Journal, “Option grants draw scrutiny” (Front page headline, 12 Oct 2009)

    CNBC, “Should CEOs’ buyout options be a securities violation?” (24 Sep 2009)