The way filings of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) with the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) are written might depend on investor reactions to initial public announcements of the deal. We examine this investor feedback hypothesis by focusing on the readability and timing of a large sample of SEC documents. We show that acquirers write documents with lower readability and file them faster when investors react negatively to the deal announcement, a finding consistent with strategic obfuscation efforts. The results are robust to alternative empirical choices, such as controlling for deal complexity or the firm's writing style. They are also confirmed using an instrumental variables approach.

中文翻译：

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投资者对合并公告的反应是否会影响 SEC 文件的撰写？


向美国证券交易委员会 （SEC） 提交并购 （M&A） 文件的撰写方式可能取决于投资者对交易最初公开公告的反应。我们通过关注大量 SEC 文件样本的可读性和时间性来检验这一投资者反馈假设。我们表明，当投资者对交易公告做出负面反应时，收单方编写的文件的可读性较低，并且提交速度更快，这一发现与战略混淆工作一致。结果对替代经验选择具有稳健性，例如控制交易复杂性或公司的写作风格。它们也使用工具变量方法进行确认。