Institutional investment in Central and Eastern Europe: investment criteria of Western portfolio managers

This study provides detailed evidence on the transistion state of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries. It draws on data from a survey conducted among portfolio managers of Western investment funds thereby making use of the knowledge of experts in CEE markets. The approach of the study is two-fold : First, criteria for portfolio investment and current barriers to higher investment in CEE countries are identified. Second, the CEE portfolio structure is explained making use of detailed grading data from the survey. The results suggest that a reduction in general and macroeconomic risk tends to increase investment and that the potential of high returns and low risk from the setting of financial markets contributes to signifficantly higher investment in some countries. --Central and Eastern Europe,institutional investors,portfolio investment

Control transfers in corporate Germany: their frequency, causes and consequences

This study examines changes in block ownership for a large sample of listed and non-listed German firms. The frequency of block trading is similar to other countries, and the vast majority of block trades leads to changes in ultimate ownership (control transfers). Such changes are more likely for firms with high leverage, while they are less likely for larger firms and firms with high ownership concentration. Only for listed firms poor performance is related to more frequent control transfers. Control transfers are followed by increased management turnover, and for listed firms also by asset divestitures and employee layoffs. --Corporate governance,ownership structure,management turnover,restructuring

New evidence on ownership structures in Germany

Ownership structures are an important element of the theory explaining corporate governance. This study presents detailed descriptive evidence on the ownership structures of German manufacturing firms. It addresses several shortcomings of the previous German empirical literature: First, we study all legal forms of a Kapitalgesellschaft, firms that generally have a separation of ownership and control. We do not focus exclusively on the listed Aktiengesellschaft (AG) but include many non-listed firms. Second, we examine changes in the ownership structure. This is a new and important approach because these changes are frequently related to corporate performance. Third, we analyze the higher levels of ownership structures, i.e. ownership structures of the direct owners. Thereby we address an issue quant itatively which only recently became subject of empirical studies. Finally, we find that crossownership is of minor relevance in the German manufacturing sector. However, our measure of cross-ownership represents only a lower bound. --ownership structure,corporate governance

Determinants of acquisition and failure: stylized facts and lessons for empirical studies

This study provides new stylized facts on the determinants of corporate failure and acquisition in Germany. It also offers important lessons for the design of empirical studies. We show that firms experiencing failure or acquisition are significantly different from surviving firms on a number of firm-specific characteristics, however the characteristics are similar for failing and acquired firms. This implies that firm failure and acquisition should be analyzed in combination. Second, we find that the industry distribution is significantly different for failure and acquisitions. This calls for some kind of industry-adjustment in empirical analyses. Third, the differences between surviving and failing (acquired) firms are similar, irrespective whether the respective firm characteristic is observed one or up to four or more years before failure (acquisition). This validates the findings of studies that use lags of only one year for explanatory variables. --Corporate governance,ownership structure,bankruptcy,acquisitions

Dynamics in ownership and firm survival: evidence from corporate Germany

This study investigates the determinants of changes in corporate ownership and firm failure, taking into account different types of sellers and buyers of control blocks. For a large panel of German corporations we find that firms are more likely to fail or to be sold when performance is poor, financial pressure is high, and firm size is small. Cross ownership deters control changes, and ownership concentration has a non-linear impact on the likelihood of control transfer. In contrast to corporate shareholders, private shareholders tend to sell control blocks when financial pressure increases. --Corporate governance,ownership structure,bankruptcy,takeover

Corporate finance and restructuring: evidence from Central and Eastern Europe

After the end of communism enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) were marked by low levels of labor productivity, mainly because of too high employment levels. According to economic theory, the corporate capital structure can be an important element in the restructuring process. But both, empirical evidence on corporate finance in CEE countries and its relation to employment is still sparse. This study describes the patterns of the corporate capital structure for ten CEE countries over the years 1993-1998, taking two major Western economies as a benchmark. An impressive rise in total indebtedness suggests that there is room for creditors to fulfill their role in corporate governance. On the other hand, investment is predominantly financed internally in CEE firms, making creditor and shareholder governance more difficult. But a regression analysis shows that inefficient CEE firms are forced to downsize employment when they finance themselves largely externally, but less so for those firms with high levels of debt. However, downsizing is limited by soft budget constraints. --Central and Eastern Europe,corporate finance,industry restructuring

An applied econometricians' view of empirical corporate governance studies

The economic analysis of corporate governance is en vogue. In addition to a host of theoretical papers, an increasing number of empirical studies analyze how ownership structure, capital structure, the structure of the board and the market for corporate control influence firm performance. This is not an easy task, and indeed, for reasons explained in this survey, empirical studies on corporate governance have more than the usual share of econometric problems. Aim of this paper is a critical survey of the recent empirical literature on corporate governance – in order to show which methodological lessons can be learned for future empirical research in the field of corporate governance, paying particular attention to German institutions and data availability. --Corporate governance

The Prospects of Capital Markets in Central and Eastern Europe

The picture of the securities exchanges and financial sectors in CEE countries is still relatively unfavorable. The CEE securities exchanges – with the only exception of the Warsaw Stock Exchange – are, in comparison with their western counterparts, underdeveloped and less important for the domestic economies in general and for corporate finance in particular. The CEE securities exchanges are under pressure for several reasons and should change their form of (international) organization to ensure future success. Stronger international integration of the exchanges could also improve the integration of CEE companies into international capital markets. --Securities Exchanges,Corporate Finance,Central and Eastern Europe

Pension reform, savings behavior and capital market performance

This paper shows that the capital market effects of population aging and pension reform are particularly strong in continental European economies such as France, Germany, and Italy. Reasons are threefold: these countries have large and ailing pay-as-you-go public pension systems, relatively thin capital markets and less than benchmark capital performance. The aging process will force the younger generations in these countries to provide more retirement income through own private saving. Capital markets will therefore grow in size and active institutional investors will become more important as intermediaries. Aim of this paper is to show that these changes are likely to generate beneficial side effects in terms of improved productivity and aggregate growth.

Institutional Investment in Central and Eastern Europe: Investment Criteria of Western Portfolio Managers

This study provides detailed evidence on the recent transition state of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries. It draws on data from a survey conducted among portfolio managers of Western investment funds thereby making use of the knowledge of experts in CEE markets. The approach of the study is two-fold: First, criteria for portfolio investment and current barriers to higher investment in CEE coumtries are identified. Second, the CEE portfolio structure is explained making use of detailed grading data from the survey. The results suggest that a reduction in general and macroeconomic risk temds to increase investment and that the potential of high returns and low risk from the setting of financial markets contributes to significantly higher investment in some countries