Institutional Investor Activism: Hedge Funds and Private Equity, Economics and Regulation - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198723946 ISBN 13: 9780198723943

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2015

Synopsis

The past two decades has witnessed unprecedented changes in the corporate governance landscape in Europe, the US and Asia. Across many countries, activist investors have pursued engagements with management of target companies.

More recently, the role of the hostile activist shareholder has been taken up by a set of hedge funds. Hedge fund activism is characterized by mergers and corporate restructuring, replacement of management and board members, proxy voting, and lobbying of management. These investors target and research companies, take large positions in `their stock, criticize their business plans and governance practices, and confront their managers, demanding action enhancing shareholder value.

This book analyses the impact of activists on the companies that they invest, the effects on shareholders and on activists funds themselves. Chapters examine such topic as investors' strategic approaches, the financial returns they produce, and the regulatory frameworks within which they operate. The chapters also provide historical context, both of activist investment and institutional shareholder passivity. The volume facilitates a comparison between the US and the EU, juxtaposing not only regulatory patterns but investment styles.

About this title

About the Author:

William Bratton, Nicholas F. Gallicchio Profesor of Law and Co-Director, Institute for Law & Economics, University of Pennsylvania Law School,Joseph A. McCahery, Program Director of Finance and Law at Duisenberg School of Finance, Professor of International Economic Law, Tilburg University Law School and TILEC

William Bratton is Nicholas F. Gallicchio Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Institute for Law & Economics at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He is recognized internationally as a leading writer on business law. He brings an interdisciplinary perspective to a wide range of subject matters that encompass corporate governance, corporate finance, accounting, corporate legal history, and comparative corporate law. His work has appeared in the California, Cornell, Michigan, Northwestern, Pennsylvania, Southern California, Stanford, and Virginia law reviews, and the Duke and Georgetown law journals amoung others. His book, Corporate Finance: Cases and Materials (Foundation Press, 7th ed. 2012), is the leading law school text on the subject. Bratton is a Research Associate of the European Corporate Governance Institute. In 2009, he was installed as the Anton Philips Professor at the Faculty of Law of Tilburg University, the fifth American academic to hold the chair.

Joseph A. McCahery is Professor of International Economic Law at TILEC and Tilburg University School of Law. He is Program Director of the Finance and Law programs at Duisenberg school of finance. Previously, he held the Goldschmidt Visiting Chair of Corporate Governance at the Solvay Business School of the University of Brussels and Chair in Corporate Governance and Innovation at the University of Amsterdam Faculty of Business and Economics. He is co-director of the Amsterdam Center for Corporate Finance. He has contributed to the literature on banking and securities law, corporate law, corporate governance, the political economy of federalism, and taxation and has published in a wide range of top academic journals. He is a Research Associate of the European Corporate Governance Institute. He has served as a legal expert for the Centre for European Policy Studies, Monitoring Committee Corporate Governance, The Netherlands Ministry of Finance, OECD, and other governmental organizations.

Review:

"This book suits many audiences. It is an excellent resource for financial and governance researchers who are interested in understanding the recent developments in the activism model adopted by hedge fund and private equity firms, as well as empirical challenges to studying the effects from activists' interventions on corporate governance and performance outcomes. Overall, I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in developing an understanding of the advent and inner workings of hedge fund activism, a new reality in corporate governance."

-- The Accounting Review

"Bratton and McCaherys edited volume addresses todays most fundamental question regarding the governance of dispersed-ownership corporations: have private equity and activist hedge funds solved the problem of the separation of ownership from control? This remarkable collection of essays by the worlds leading corporate governance scholars will play a critical role in shaping the discussion in both academic and policy circles for many years to come."

-- Merritt B. Fox, Michael E. Patterson Professor of Law, NASDAQ Professor for Law and Economics of Capital Markets, Columbia University Law School

"Hedge funds and private equity funds are the active governance agents of late. Bratton and McCahery have put together a collection of highly informative essays examining many aspects of the governance model adopted by these institutional investors: tactics, performance, economic consequences, as well as the regulatory framework in which they operate. The volume must be recommended to anyone interested in corporate governance."
-- Mike Burkart, Gösta Olson Professor of Finance, Stockholm School of Economics

"Hedge fund activism and private equity have become central for corporate governance in recent years. This books collects impressive papers from some of the most prominent academics in the field, which is now richer for the editors and authors efforts."

-- Mark J. Roe, David Berg Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0198723946
• ISBN 13: 9780198723943
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 640
• Editor: Bratton William, McCahery Joseph A.