Is the Board Neutrality Rule Trivial? Amnesia About Corporate Law in European Takeover Regulation

66 Pages Posted: 4 May 2011

See all articles by Carsten Gerner-Beuerle

Carsten Gerner-Beuerle

University College London - Faculty of Laws; University of Notre Dame - Notre Dame Law School; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

David Kershaw

London School of Economics - Law School; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Matteo Alfredo Solinas

Victoria University of Wellington, Te Herenga Waka - Faculty of Law

Date Written: March 30, 2011

Abstract

Whether the European Union's Takeover Directive should have adopted a mandatory neutrality rule has been the subject of much debate. As the European Commission commences its review of the Directive this debate is being reignited. A view is crystallising that the success and failure of the Directive can, in large part, be measured by the number of Member States that have opted-in, or out of the neutrality principle, or have opted-in subject to the reciprocity option. The contestability of European corporations is viewed through this lens as a function of the extent to which EU Member States have adopted an unqualified neutrality rule. This article takes issue with this viewpoint. It argues that the pre-Directive debate and the post-Directive assessment have failed to consider the core lesson of takeover defences in the United States, namely that the construction of defences and their potency are a function of basic corporate law rules. If corporate law rules do not enable the construction of takeover defences, or undermine the extent to which they can be potently deployed, then the adoption or rejection of the neutrality principle in Member States is of trivial significance. This article explores the triviality hypothesis in three central EU jurisdictions: the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy. It concludes that, although there is variable scope to construct and deploy takeover defences in these jurisdictions, the triviality thesis is well founded.

Suggested Citation

Gerner-Beuerle, Carsten and Kershaw, David and Solinas, Matteo Alfredo, Is the Board Neutrality Rule Trivial? Amnesia About Corporate Law in European Takeover Regulation (March 30, 2011). LSE Legal Studies Working Paper No. 3/2011, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1799291 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1799291

Carsten Gerner-Beuerle

University College London - Faculty of Laws ( email )

Bentham House
4-8 Endsleigh Gardens
London, WC1E OEG
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/people/carsten-gerner-beuerle

University of Notre Dame - Notre Dame Law School ( email )

Eck Hall of Law
Notre Dame, IN 46556
United States

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

HOME PAGE: http://https://ecgi.global/users/carsten-gerner-beuerle

David Kershaw (Contact Author)

London School of Economics - Law School

Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE, WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

Matteo Alfredo Solinas

Victoria University of Wellington, Te Herenga Waka - Faculty of Law

PO Box 600
Wellington, 6140
New Zealand

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