This paper investigates whether shareholder lockup agreements in France and Germany mitigate problems of agency and asymmetric information. Despite minimum requirements in terms of the length and percentage of shares locked up, lockup agreements are not only highly diverse across firms but also...

This paper examines the impact of venture-capital (VC) backing on the characteristics of voluntary lock-in agreements entered into by the existing shareholders of UK IPOs, and on the abnormal returns around the expiry of the directors' lock-in agreements. Overall, we find that venture-capital...

We analyse the characteristics of lockup agreements of IPOs on the Neuer Markt and the Nouveau Marche from 1996 to 2000.Even though both markets were part of the same EuroNM network, the characteristics of their lockup agreements are substantially different.Firm characteristics have a major...

We investigate the investment-cash flow sensitivity of a large sample of the UK listed firms and confirm that investment is strongly cash flow-sensitive. Is this suboptimal investment policy the result of agency problems when managers with high discretion overinvest, or of asymmetric information...

We investigate the investment-cash flow sensitivity of a large sample of the UK listed firms and confirm that investment is strongly cash flow-sensitive.Is this suboptimal investment policy the result of agency problems when managers with high discretion overinvest, or of asymmetric information...

This paper studies the short- and long-run share price performance of firms that have gone public on the Euro New Markets (EuroNMs) since their foundation in 1996/97. The initial and long-run returns are remarkable in four ways. First, underpricing is on average 2-3 times higher than that on the...

The first striking feature is that ownership of the average UK company is diffuse: a coalition of at least eight shareholders is required to reach an absolute majority of voting rights. Even though the average firm has a dispersed ownership, the reader should bear in mind that there are about...

This paper shows that bond performance around Mamp;A announcements is extremely sensitive to cross-country differences in governance and legal standards, using deals involving European bidders with outstanding Eurobonds. Firstly, stakeholder-oriented corporate governance ensures that Continental...

Management buy-outs have become a global phenomenon. This paper examines the key market trends in the UK and Continental Europe and identifies challenges for the future development of the market. Key recent trends include: buy-out funds raised have exceeded funds invested; evidence from...

This paper provides an overview of the German corporate governance system. We review the governance role of large shareholders, creditors, the product market and the supervisory board. We also discuss the importance of mergers and acquisitions, the market in block trades, and the lack of a...