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...

This paper unveils the diversity in lock-in agreements of firms listed on the Nouveau Marche stock exchange in France. We give the main economic reasons why shareholders adopt lock-in agreements that are more stringent than legally required. We relate the abnormal returns and the abnormal volume...

This paper shows that a vibrant and economically important public-to-private market has reemerged in the US, UK and Continental Europe, since the second half of the 1990s. The paper shows recent trends and investigates the motives for public-to-private and LBO transactions. The reasons for the...

This paper provides an overview of the main characteristics of the ownership structures of the Belgian companies quoted on the Brussels stock Exchange. Prior to the changes in corporate law regarding ownership disclosure in 1989 little was know about ownership and control. We show that the...

This paper addresses the question of how corporate control is exerted in poorly performing listed companies in Belgium. We examine the efficiency of new regulations proposed in Belgium and the neighboring countries by studying whether the board's composition and structure is instrumental for...

This paper provides an exhaustive literature review of the motives for public-to-private LBO transactions. First, the paper develops the theoretical framework for the potential sources of value creation from going private: a distinction is made between the reduction in agency costs, stakeholder...

Companies have the choice to deviate from their national corporate governance standards by opting into another system. They can do so via contractual devices - such as cross-border mergers and acquisitions, (re)incorporations, and cross-listings - which enable firms to choose their preferred...

In cross-border acquisitions, the differences between the bidder and target corporate governance have an important impact on the takeover returns. We measure the difference in the bidder and target corporate governance (in terms of shareholder, minority shareholder, and creditor orientation)...

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) refers to the incorporation of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations into corporate management, financial decision making, and investors' portfolio decisions. Socially responsible firms are expected to internalize the externalities (e.g....

We study the tax regulations in relation to dividends and capital gains over the last two decades for the UK in order to determine whether changes in tax regimes affect corporate payout policy (dividends, share repurchases, or a combination). While we can identify investors' tax-driven...