Competition for Flow and Short-Termism in Activism

58 Pages Posted: 5 Nov 2012 Last revised: 18 Sep 2020

See all articles by Mike Burkart

Mike Burkart

Swedish House of Finance; London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Finance; Finance Theory Group (FTG); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Amil Dasgupta

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

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: September 7, 2020

Abstract

We develop a dual-layered agency model to study blockholder monitoring by activist funds that compete for investor flow. Competition for flow affects the manner in which activist funds govern as blockholders. In particular, funds inflate short-term performance by increasing payouts financed by higher (net) leverage, which subsequently discourages value-creating interventions in economic downturns due to debt overhang. Our theory suggests a new channel via which asset manager incentives may foster economic fragility and links together the observed procyclicality of activist investments with the documented effect of such funds on the leverage of their target companies.

Keywords: blockholder monitoring, activist hedge funds, competition for flow, corporate governance, delegated portfolio management

JEL Classification: G34, G23

Suggested Citation

Burkart, Mike C. and Dasgupta, Amil, Competition for Flow and Short-Termism in Activism (September 7, 2020). Review of Corporate Finance Studies, forthcoming, European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) - Finance Working Paper No. 429/2014, Swedish House of Finance Research Paper No. 14-10, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2169880 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2169880

Mike C. Burkart

Swedish House of Finance ( email )

Drottninggatan 98
111 60 Stockholm
Sweden

London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Finance ( email )

Houghton Street
London, WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

Finance Theory Group (FTG) ( email )

United States

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://www.cepr.org/default_static.htm

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

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

HOME PAGE: http://www.ecgi.org

Amil Dasgupta (Contact Author)

London School of Economics (LSE) ( email )

Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom
+44 20 7955 7458 (Phone)
+44 20 7955 7420 (Fax)

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

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

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