Shareholder activism and firms’ performance

Increasing attention to activist campaigns raises the question of whether they lead to better performance. The impact of different motives, demands, and proposals is still unclear and, sometimes, contradictory. We used a unique dataset of activist campaigns targeting firms in the US from 2002 to 2017 and analysed the impact of activism on firm performance, considering their specific demands. Our results show that firms experience a decline in profitability almost immediately after campaigns, although the effect is unclear in the years subsequent to the intervention. Results also suggest that campaigns primarily focused on demanding a change in strategic direction or obtaining board control intensify the decline in profitability. Seeking board representation is the type of demand that effectively increases target firms’ profitability. Our analysis adds to research on shareholder governance and competitive dynamics by highlighting that the type of demand adopted in campaigns impacts differently on firms’ performance.     

Does institutional activism increase shareholder wealth? Evidence from spillovers on non-target companies

This paper presents evidence of the shareholder wealth effect of institutional activism using its spillovers on non-target companies. The spillovers are instructive because they are a response to an exogenous shock and thus create an environment to conduct a clean event study. In particular, we examine the spillover effects of the first target announcement of the Korea Corporate Governance Fund. As the very first sign of institutional activism in the country, this announcement creates an expectation of similar governance efforts even in non-target companies, especially in those companies whose governance is currently poorer and thus the scope for future activism is greater. Consistent with institutional activism contributing to shareholder wealth, we find that, among non-targets, those firms granting fewer rights to outside shareholders experience a more positive stock price reaction. Further analysis lends additional support to the positive wealth effect of institutional activism.     

Value of outside blockholder activism: Evidence from the switchers

This paper measures the value of shareholder activism focusing on outside blockholders who switch their investment purpose from passive to active but are not likely to engage in control-related activities. Unlike the usual 5% ownership disclosure, a switch does not necessarily involve additional share purchase, and thus provides a cleaner test in effectively ruling out alternative theories such as those related to stock picking skills, private information, or herding. We apply the test to outside blockholders in the Korean market, which experienced a concentrated number of switchers in the first half of 2005 when the government adopted a new disclosure rule. We find that target price reaction is significantly positive around the time of the switch disclosure and this effect is more pronounced when the switcher declares to use a wider scope of activist measures. Following the switch, we also find evidence of increases in dividend payouts for firms targeted by switchers with a wider scope of activism, and those with high free cash flows.     

Undoing the powerful anti-takeover force of staggered boards

We examine cases where managers announce an intention to de-stagger their boards via proxy proposals or board action. The literature has established the staggered board as the most consequential of all takeover defenses and one that destroys wealth. Thus, dismantling staggered boards benefits shareholders. We study the wealth effects and motives behind this change in governance within a conditional event study. We find that de-staggering the board creates wealth and that shareholder activism is an important catalyst for pushing through this change. Moreover, in the period preceding Sarbanes–Oxley, investor reaction indicates a perception that de-staggering firms are more likely to be takeover targets.     

Taxes and the growth in mutual funds: Evidence from OBRA 93

In recent years, individuals have steadily moved from direct ownership of equities to holding securities through mutual funds. Prior research has attributed this phenomenon to tax incentives to hold mutual funds in tax-preferred retirement accounts. In contrast, employing household-level microdata and using OBRA 93 as a quasi-natural experimental setting, we find that on average, investors reduced their mutual fund holdings within tax-preferred accounts following a tax rate increase. However, we also observe that this effect is primarily driven by investors with relatively high trading activity within their tax-preferred accounts; investors exhibiting relatively low trading activity generally increased their mutual fund investments in these accounts after OBRA 93. Investors who increased their mutual fund holdings did not do so by rebalancing away from other asset classes. Collectively, our results suggest that taxes are not driving the growth in mutual funds. This finding has important public policy implications because of the growing popularity of using mutual funds as a retirement savings vehicle, the dwindling number of individuals covered by defined benefit plans, the dramatic increase in the importance of mutual funds as a financial intermediary, and the continued state of flux in U.S. tax policy.     

险资持股对上市公司股价波动的影响研究——基于机构投资者异质性视角

保险机构已经成为资本市场重要的机构投资者,其在整个资本市场中的作用日益受到关注.基于机构投资者异质性的视角,对保险机构和证券投资基金、社保基金以及Q FII等其他机构投资者的持股特征进行对比分析,总结梳理保险机构投资者持股的特征.并运用面板数据模型,从长期持股和持股比例变动两个方面对比分析保险机构持股与证券投资基金持股对股价波动的影响.结果表明:在样本期间内,相对于证券投资基金,保险机构长期持股起到了稳定股市的作用,但保险机构持股比例变动会加剧股市的波动.     

Social investment: Subjectivism, sublation and the moral elevation of success

Investment products that deploy ethical values and social considerations in portfolio construction have persisted since the 1980s. Pitting Habermasian discourse ethics against Foucauldian power relations and radical institutionalism, the paper argues that socially directed mutual funds ascribe capital markets with validities of high moral magnitude, work up extant tendencies toward financial hegemony and stymie criticism of the political–economic order. Institutional pressures do not permit the exercise of an ethic stronger than an aesthetic care of the self. The balance struck between economic and social priorities is investigated by interviewing investment managers, reviewing archival material and surveying the attitudes of unit holders in retail social mutual funds.     

资本市场投资端改革研究

资本市场投资端改革的目标包括改善我国居民资产配置结构,壮大机构投资者队伍,推动形成市场稳定的长期资金来源。本文提出:第一,投资端改革应通过培育直接投融资文化、降低房地产的投资属性、提升资本市场吸引力来调动微观主体投资积极性。第二,投资端改革应培育、发展各类专业投资机构。公募基金应提升基民投资获得感,推进价值投资;养老金应优化税收制度安排,加速嫁接资本市场;保险资金应提升渗透率与长期股权的配置比重;私募基金应优化监管方式,扩大退出渠道。第三,投资端改革应厘清各类投资机构之间的业务边界,加快发展投资顾问制度,提升买方维权力量对卖方的制约功能来构建各类投资主体相互合作、相互约束的良性投资生态。     

机构投资者参与公司治理行为指引制度研究

机构投资者参与公司治理是发挥中长期资金“压舱石”作用的重要途径,对于提升上市公司质量具有积极意义。研究发现,当前我国机构投资者在参与公司治理方面已取得一定实效,但仍存在总体积极性不高、制度不规范、披露不充分、手段有限、质量较低等问题,激励及引导规则的不足是导致实践困境的重要原因之一。有必要参考境外做法,引进具有软法性质的行为指引制度,构建具有约束力的促进型法制。相应规则的设计应以促进机构投资者有效行使股东权利为核心,着重加强对机构投资者的激励与引导,培育机构投资者自愿、自主和自觉参与公司治理的能力,推动机构投资者积极参与公司治理。     

Financial acumen, women speculators, and the Royal African company during the South Sea bubble

Price bubbles provide a unique opportunity to study the financial acumen of shareholders. We focus on the 1720 South Sea episode as experienced by the Royal African Company whose stock was more speculative than other joint stocks. During 1720 the company had a new large stock issue. This paper examines the financial acumen of those women who traded senior and engrafted stock across 1720. We find that depending on the pricing regime, these women at worst broke even on their activities or had positive speculative gains. Our findings are consistent with a growing literature on the positive link between gender, capital gains and financial markets.     

机构投资者与个人投资者过度自信行为比较研究

本文首先基于我国A股市场机构股票持有数据,构建了不同的投资组合来区分机构投资者与个人投资者的投资行为。然后运用Granger因果检验与SUR估计,探讨了我国证券市场机构投资者与个人投资者是否具有过度自信行为,结果表明无论是机构投资者还是个人投资者在不同市场状态下都存在交易过多的过度自信认知偏差。并且我国证券市场上个人投资者与机构投资者的过度自信程度在不同的市场状态下并无明显差异。最后提出了相关政策建议。     

The effects of adopting the Balanced Scorecard on shareholder returns

Many firms have adopted the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) as a way to implement strategy and measure firm performance. This paper uses a long-horizon event study methodology to examine the relationship between BSC adoption and shareholder returns. Using a matched pair design, we show that firms who adopt the BSC significantly outperform firms that do not adopt the BSC over a three year period beginning with the year of adoption. Our results are robust for different matching criteria. There is also evidence that firms earn greater excess returns after adoption of the BSC than before. These results provide strong evidence that the BSC is an effective strategic management tool that leads to improved shareholder returns.     

询价制度第一阶段改革有效吗

询价制度第一阶段改革后,新股定价效率明显提高,证监会取消对发行价格的管制是新股定价效率提高的前提,询价对象竞争程度的增加是定价效率提高的根本动因;改革后,机构投资者择股效应显著,将定价效率提高所引发的部分投资风险转嫁给了中小投资者。中小投资者由改革前利益分配不公平转变为改革后风险分担不公平,定价效率进一步提高很可能引发中小投资者的赢者诅咒。发行制度未来改革应在注重提高定价效率的同时,限制机构投资者向中小投资者转嫁风险的能力。