Does Mandatory Shareholder Voting Prevent Bad Acquisitions?

59 Pages Posted: 31 May 2014 Last revised: 29 Jun 2016

See all articles by Marco Becht

Marco Becht

Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (ULB); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Andrea Polo

Luiss Guido Carli University - Department of Economics and Finance; Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Stefano Rossi

Bocconi University; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: March 15, 2016

Abstract

Shareholder voting on corporate acquisitions is controversial. In most countries acquisition decisions are delegated to boards and shareholder approval is discretionary, which makes existing empirical studies inconclusive. We study the U.K. setting where shareholder approval is imposed exogenously via a threshold test that provides strong identification. U.K. shareholders gain 8 cents per dollar at announcement with mandatory voting, or $13.6 billion over 1992-2010 in aggregate; without voting U.K. shareholders lost $3 billion. Multidimensional regression discontinuity analysis supports a causal interpretation. The evidence suggests that mandatory voting imposes a binding constraint on acquirer CEOs.

Keywords: Corporate acquisitions, shareholder voting, corporate governance

JEL Classification: G34, K22

Suggested Citation

Becht, Marco and Polo, Andrea and Rossi, Stefano, Does Mandatory Shareholder Voting Prevent Bad Acquisitions? (March 15, 2016). Forthcoming, Review of Financial Studies, European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) - Finance Working Paper No. 422/2014 - forthcoming, Review of Financial Studies, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2443792 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2443792

Marco Becht (Contact Author)

Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (ULB) ( email )

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Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

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Andrea Polo

Luiss Guido Carli University - Department of Economics and Finance ( email )

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Parma, 43100 - I
Italy

Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF) ( email )

Via Due Macelli, 73
Rome, 00187
Italy

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
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1000 Brussels
Belgium

Stefano Rossi

Bocconi University ( email )

Via Roentgen 1
Milano, MI 20136
Italy

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

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

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