Over the past two decades, activist investors have begun to play an increasingly important role in corporate governance around the world. This book analyses the impact of activists on the companies that they invest, the effects on shareholders and on activists funds themselves.

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...

We study the effect of environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores on the portfolio allocations of institutional investors. Using a unique data set, we find that institutional investor holdings (as measured by 13F filings) are strongly driven by the ESG quality of companies. While...

Loan tranching allows banks to manage risk and facilitate firm financing, which may be essential for firms that cannot access investors from stock markets. We analyze the determinants and benefits of loan tranching by pooling the tranches of individual loans to create the largest cross-country...

We survey institutional investors to better understand their role in the corporate governance of firms. Consistent with a number of theories we document widespread behind-the-scenes intervention as well as governance-motivated exit. Both governance mechanisms are viewed as complementary devices,...