Chapter 27: Arbitrage 427 
generally declared a special dividend in the fourth quarter of each year, but that its 
normal quarterly rate is $1.00 per share. Suppose the special dividend in the fourth 
quarter has ranged from an extra $1.00 to $3.00 over the past five years. If the arbi­
trageur were willing to speculate on the size of the upcoming dividend, he might be 
able to make a nice profit. Even if he overestimates the size of the special dividend, 
he has a limited loss. Suppose XYZ is trading at 55 about two weeks before the com­
pany is going to announce the dividend for the fourth quarter. There is no guarantee 
that there will, in fact, be a special dividend, but assume that XYZ is having a rela­
tively good year profitwise, and that some special dividend seems forthcoming. 
Furthermore, suppose the January 60 put is trading at 7½. This put has 2½ points of 
time value premium. If the arbitrageur buys XYZ at 55 and also buys the January 60 
put at 7½, he is setting up a risk arbitrage. He will profit regardless of how far the 
stock falls or how much time value premium the put loses, if the special dividend is 
larger than $1.50. A special dividend of $1.50 plus the regular dividend of $1.00 
would add up to $2.50, or 2½ points, thus covering his risk in the position. Note that 
$1.50 is in the low end of the $1.00 to $3.00 recent historical range for the special 
dividends, so the arbitrageur might be tempted to speculate a little by establishing 
this dividend risk arbitrage. Even if the company unexpectedly decided to declare no 
special dividend at all, it would most likely still pay out the $1.00 regular dividend. 
Thus, the most that the arbitrageur would lose would be 1 ½ points (his 2½-point ini­
tial time value premium cost, less the 1-point dividend). In actual practice, the stock 
would probably not change in price by a great deal over the next two weeks (it is a 
high-yield stock), and therefore the January 60 put would probably have some time 
value premium left in it after the stock goes ex-dividend. Thus, the practical risk is 
even less than 1 ½ points. 
While these types of dividend risk arbitrage are not frequently available, the 
arbitrageur who is willing to do some homework and also take some risk may find that 
he is able to put on a position with a small risk and a profitability quite a bit larger 
than the normal discount dividend arbitrage. 
There is really not a direct form of dividend arbitrage involving call options. If 
a relatively high-yield stock is about to go ex-dividend, holders of the calls will 
attempt to sell. They do so because the stock will drop in price, thereby generally 
forcing the call to drop in price as well, because of the dividend. However, the hold­
er of a call does not receive cash dividends and therefore is not willing to hold the 
call if the stock is going to drop by a relatively large amount (perhaps ¾ point or 
more). The effect of these call holders attempting to sell their calls may often pro­
duce a discount option, and therefore a basic call arbitrage may be possible. The arbi­
trageur should be careful, however, if he is attempting to arbitrage a stock that is