Sharif Digital Repository

International trade arrangements have been considerably developed in recent decadees. Especially, one can note the role of these factors in economic development and improvement of life standards in member countries. In the meantime, Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) was established in 1985, by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey and then extended by seven other countries: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Improving economic development and intra-group trade of member countries is one of the main objectives for the group. The purpose of this research is to estimate the ex-post effects of ECO on the intra-group trade of member countries.... 

Using the data of the Tehran Stock Exchange, we analyze the characteristics and explanatory factors of major intra-group and out-of-group transactions and test the tunneling hypothesis in intra-group transactions. We find that out-of-group transactions can be largely explained by changes in control or management, firm size, and the type of the firm. However, intra-group transaction properties mostly depend on the difference between the parent company's cash flow rights in the buyer and seller companies. Also, in the final analysis, we conclude that many intra-group transactions are made to change the structure of the business groups, especially when investment companies buy shares of listed... 

Price manipulation can lead to lack of transparency and impair proper functioning of financial markets. On the Tehran Stock Exchange, there is ample anecdotal evidence that some blockholders try to manipulate the price before the block transactions to change the share price significantly. In this paper, we provide empirical evidence that in intergroup block trades, blockholders tend to buy shares before the trade date or engage in round-trip transactions to increase the block shares price. No such evidence is found in intragroup transactions and other explanations such as market reaction to a change in corporate ownership seem more plausible than price manipulation. In addition to the...