Master's Thesis from the year 2013 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: 8.5 (A+), Erasmus University Rotterdam (Rotterdam School of Management), language: English, abstract: This thesis examines the kind of information "informed" traders have prior to a takeover announcement using options of target firms. I find that option liquidity rises before a takeover announcement, indicating the presence of informed traders. Using 2,390 M&A events, I show that the implied volatility (IV) skew and the relative option-to-stock trading volume O/S predict negatively on target...