[EN] Using a panel data of 70 Spanish privatised firms, we study whether the shares held in the
divested firms’ capital by employees, managers and the State, the nationality of the buyer, the
economic environment, as well as the firms’ size, may explain the performance of privatised
firms. The results suggest that firms in which the State completely relinquishes control have
more probabilities of maximizing efficiency. Besides, the entrance of foreign investors in the
firms’ capital may provide firms with new know-how and access to new technologies and
markets that may also improve the success of privatisations processes. Moreover, the results
suggest that privatisations of SOEs per se may not be sufficient to improve their performance,
since privatisations that are accompanied by liberalisation programs and competition turn out
to be more successful. Finally, these results are in general terms the same both for firms
privatised through direct sale and public offering