Internalizing Governance Externalities: The Role of Institutional Cross-ownership
Speaker: Prof. Shan Zhao (Grenoble Ecole de Management)
 |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Topic: |
Internalizing Governance Externalities: The Role of Institutional Cross-ownership
|
|
|
Time&Date: |
12:00pm-13:30pm, 2018/6/25 |
|
|
Venue: |
Room A619, Teaching A |
|
|
Speaker: |
Prof. Shan Zhao (Grenoble Ecole de Management)
|
|
| Abstract: |
We analyze the role of institutional cross-ownership in internalizing corporate governance externalities using data on mutual fund proxy voting. Exploiting the variation in cross-ownership across institutions within a proposal as well as the variation in cross-ownership across firms within a given institution’s portfolio, we show that an institution’s holdings in peer firms increase the likelihood that the institution votes against management in shareholder-sponsored governance proposals. This relation is stronger for firms whose managers are likely to have more outside opportunities. Consistent with a causal interpretation of our results, we find that increases in cross-ownership induced by financial institution mergers lead to a higher likelihood that the acquirer institution votes against management. We further show that high aggregate cross-ownership positively predicts management losing a vote. Overall, our evidence suggests that institutional cross-ownership improves governance by alleviating the inefficiency resulting from corporate governance externalities.
|
|
