This paper analyses lawsuits against shareholders' resolutions according to the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG) and the German Reorganisation Act (UmwG). A merger passed at the General Annual Meeting will not move forward as long as any lawsuit is pending with a court. In particular, mergers...

This paper is the third chapter of the third edition of The Anatomy of Corporate Law: A Comparative and Functional Approach, by Reinier Kraakman, John Armour, Paul Davies, Luca Enriques, Henry Hansmann, Gerard Hertig, Klaus Hopt, Hideki Kanda Mariana Pargendler, Georg Ringe, and Edward Rock...

Some of the largest listed firms in Western and Northern Europe are partly owned by foundations. So far, little research exists about the shareholder value effects of foundation ownership. This study aims to close this gap using an event study method. We find that equity markets show a positive...

This paper analyzes how announce changes in the corporate control (takeover) of Endesa, Hidrocantábrico and Scottish Power affect their stock market returns and the impact that these events have on the stock market returns of competitors of the target firm. Using an “event study”...

I investigate whether implementation of the mandatory bid rule – the rule that grants all shareholders the right to participate in a takeover transaction at equal terms – affects target announcement returns. I use a difference-in-differences approach and the staggered adoption of the rule...

We investigate the stock price performance of companies that become a block trade target in China where unique institutional characteristics exist. As with US evidence, stock prices of target companies positively react to the announcement of block trades. The positive effect of block trades...

The ongoing controversy over Melrose’s purchase of engineering company GKN illustrates many common misunderstandings about how free markets can work to the benefit of all. Shareholders, not politicians, should decide how to run their businesses, including whether a new management team could do...

In this paper, we consider the corporate governance challenge of protecting outside investors in listed, controlled firms. European jurisdictions are supposed to be more veteran and skilled in dealing with these firms in comparison to the U.S. But we argue that outside investors in European...

This study examines the importance of the self-selection problem when evaluating returns to bidder firms around announcement events. Takeover announcements are not random because managers decide rationally whether to bid or not, this indicates announcements are timed; consequently, in the presence...

This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on the role of blockholders (large shareholders) in corporate governance. We start with the underlying property rights of public corporations; we discuss how blockholders are critical in addressing free-rider problems and why, like...