IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbfina/v162y2024ics0378426624000773.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do large registered investment funds undermine shareholder activism? Evidence from hedge fund proposals

Author

Listed:
  • Loureiro, Gilberto
  • Mendonça, Cesar

Abstract

We examine the voting behavior of Registered Investment Funds (Mutual Funds, ETFs and Close-end Funds) on Hedge Funds proposals, a common vehicle of value-driven shareholder activism. We compare the support rates of Registered Funds versus other voting shareholders on different types of proposals set up for voting at shareholders meetings and explore fund-level characteristics that may explain the variation in support rates. Our results show that Registered Funds support rates on Hedge Fund proposals vary depending on the proposal category. In general, the support rates of Registered Funds are about 4 percentage points lower compared to other investors. However, that difference rises to 10 p.p. for proposals that are more confrontational to the incumbent management of the target company. Interestingly, the average lower support rates of Registered Funds are driven by the ten largest funds. On the contrary, Registered Funds from smaller parent groups tend to be more supportive of Hedge Fund activism. We document a 18 p.p. reduction in the probability of favorable votes on Hedge Fund proposals by the largest Registered Funds compared to smaller funds. Our results suggest that the growing ownership in public companies by large Registered Funds reduces the overall support of shareholder activism through Hedge Fund proposals.

Suggested Citation

  • Loureiro, Gilberto & Mendonça, Cesar, 2024. "Do large registered investment funds undermine shareholder activism? Evidence from hedge fund proposals," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:162:y:2024:i:c:s0378426624000773
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2024.107157
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378426624000773
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2024.107157?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David F. Larcker & Allan L. McCall & Gaizka Ormazabal, 2015. "Outsourcing Shareholder Voting to Proxy Advisory Firms," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(1), pages 173-204.
    2. Simi Kedia & Laura T. Starks & Xianjue Wang, 2021. "Institutional Investors and Hedge Fund Activism," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(1), pages 1-43.
    3. Lucian A. Bebchuk & Alma Cohen & Scott Hirst, 2017. "The Agency Problems of Institutional Investors," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(3), pages 89-102, Summer.
    4. Peter Iliev & Michelle Lowry, 2015. "Are Mutual Funds Active Voters?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(2), pages 446-485.
    5. Alon Brav & Hyunseob Kim & Wei Jiang, 2015. "Recent Advances in Research on Hedge Fund Activism: Value Creation and Identification," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 7(1), pages 579-595, December.
    6. Gantchev, Nickolay, 2013. "The costs of shareholder activism: Evidence from a sequential decision model," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(3), pages 610-631.
    7. Massa, Massimo & Rehman, Zahid, 2008. "Information flows within financial conglomerates: Evidence from the banks-mutual funds relation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(2), pages 288-306, August.
    8. JOSEPH A. McCAHERY & ZACHARIAS SAUTNER & LAURA T. STARKS, 2016. "Behind the Scenes: The Corporate Governance Preferences of Institutional Investors," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(6), pages 2905-2932, December.
    9. Ian R Appel & Todd A Gormley & Donald B Keim, 2019. "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: The Effect of Passive Investors on Activism," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(7), pages 2720-2774.
    10. Aslan, Hadiye & Kumar, Praveen, 2016. "The product market effects of hedge fund activism," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(1), pages 226-248.
    11. Davis, Gerald F. & Kim, E. Han, 2007. "Business ties and proxy voting by mutual funds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 552-570, August.
    12. Duan, Ying & Jiao, Yawen & Tam, Kinsun, 2021. "Conflict of interest and proxy voting by institutional investors," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    13. Alon Brav & Wei Jiang & Frank Partnoy & Randall Thomas, 2008. "Hedge Fund Activism, Corporate Governance, and Firm Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(4), pages 1729-1775, August.
    14. Aiken, Adam L. & Lee, Choonsik, 2020. "Let's talk sooner rather than later: The strategic communication decisions of activist blockholders," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    15. Krishnan, C.N.V. & Partnoy, Frank & Thomas, Randall S., 2016. "The second wave of hedge fund activism: The importance of reputation, clout, and expertise," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 296-314.
    16. Dragana Cvijanović & Amil Dasgupta & Konstantinos E. Zachariadis, 2016. "Ties That Bind: How Business Connections Affect Mutual Fund Activism," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(6), pages 2933-2966, December.
    17. Fichtner, Jan & Heemskerk, Eelke M. & Garcia-Bernardo, Javier, 2017. "Hidden power of the Big Three? Passive index funds, re-concentration of corporate ownership, and new financial risk†," Business and Politics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 298-326, June.
    18. Bebchuk, Lucian A. & Brav, Alon & Jiang, Wei & Keusch, Thomas, 2020. "Dancing with activists," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 1-41.
    19. Lucian A. Bebchuk & Alon Brav & Wei Jiang, 2015. "The Long-Term Effects of Hedge Fund Activism," NBER Working Papers 21227, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Lucian A. Bebchuk & Scott Hirst, 2019. "Index Funds and the Future of Corporate Governance: Theory, Evidence, and Policy," NBER Working Papers 26543, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Morgan, Angela & Poulsen, Annette & Wolf, Jack & Yang, Tina, 2011. "Mutual funds as monitors: Evidence from mutual fund voting," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 914-928, September.
    22. Nicole Boyson & Robert Mooradian, 2011. "Corporate governance and hedge fund activism," Review of Derivatives Research, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 169-204, July.
    23. Jonathan Lewellen & Katharina Lewellen, 2022. "Institutional Investors and Corporate Governance: The Incentive to Be Engaged," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(1), pages 213-264, February.
    24. Denes, Matthew R. & Karpoff, Jonathan M. & McWilliams, Victoria B., 2017. "Thirty years of shareholder activism: A survey of empirical research," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 405-424.
    25. Cindy R. Alexander & Mark A. Chen & Duane J. Seppi & Chester S. Spatt, 2010. "Interim News and the Role of Proxy Voting Advice," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(12), pages 4419-4454, December.
    26. Ng, Lilian & Wang, Qinghai & Zaiats, Nataliya, 2009. "Firm performance and mutual fund voting," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(12), pages 2207-2217, December.
    27. Karpoff, Jonathan M. & Malatesta, Paul H. & Walkling, Ralph A., 1996. "Corporate governance and shareholder initiatives: Empirical evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 365-395, November.
    28. Clifford, Christopher P., 2008. "Value creation or destruction? Hedge funds as shareholder activists," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 323-336, September.
    29. Stuart L. Gillan & Laura T. Starks, 2007. "The Evolution of Shareholder Activism in the United States," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 19(1), pages 55-73, January.
    30. Ashraf, Rasha & Jayaraman, Narayanan & Ryan, Harley E., 2012. "Do Pension-Related Business Ties Influence Mutual Fund Proxy Voting? Evidence from Shareholder Proposals on Executive Compensation," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(3), pages 567-588, June.
    31. Nickolay Gantchev & Mariassunta Giannetti, 2021. "The Costs and Benefits of Shareholder Democracy: Gadflies and Low-Cost Activism [How close are shareholder votes?]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(12), pages 5629-5675.
    32. Greenwood, Robin & Schor, Michael, 2009. "Investor activism and takeovers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(3), pages 362-375, June.
    33. Renneboog, Luc & Szilagyi, Peter G., 2011. "The role of shareholder proposals in corporate governance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 167-188, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dasgupta, Amil & Fos, Vyacheslav & Sautner, Zacharias, 2021. "Institutional investors and corporate governance," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112114, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Denes, Matthew R. & Karpoff, Jonathan M. & McWilliams, Victoria B., 2017. "Thirty years of shareholder activism: A survey of empirical research," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 405-424.
    3. Bebchuk, Lucian A. & Brav, Alon & Jiang, Wei & Keusch, Thomas, 2020. "Dancing with activists," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 1-41.
    4. Edmans, Alex & Holderness, Clifford, 2016. "Blockholders: A Survey of Theory and Evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 11442, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Farizo, Joseph D., 2022. "(Black)Rock the vote: Index funds and opposition to management," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    6. Kim, Sehoon, 2020. "Disappearing Discounts: Hedge Fund Activism in Conglomerates," MPRA Paper 100876, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Lucian A. Bebchuk & Alon Brav & Wei Jiang & Thomas Keusch, 2019. "Dancing With Activists," NBER Working Papers 26171, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Jochen Hartmann & Matthias Pelster & Soenke Sievers, 2022. "Shareholder activism around the globe: Hedge funds vs. other professional investors," Working Papers Dissertations 98, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    9. Duan, Ying & Jiao, Yawen & Tam, Kinsun, 2021. "Conflict of interest and proxy voting by institutional investors," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    10. Mark R. DesJardine & Rodolphe Durand, 2020. "Disentangling the effects of hedge fund activism on firm financial and social performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(6), pages 1054-1082, June.
    11. Simon Rafaqat & Sana Rafaqat & Sahil Rafaqat & Saoul Rafaqat & Dawood Rafaqat, 2023. "Shareholder Activism and Firm Performance: A Review," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 14(4), pages 31-41.
    12. Bajzik, Josef, 2023. "Is the role of shareholder activism in corporate governance overestimated?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PC).
    13. Barros, Victor & Guedes, Maria João & Santos, Joana & Sarmento, Joaquim Miranda, 2023. "Shareholder activism and firms’ performance," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    14. Oehler, Andreas & Schmitz, Jonas Tobias, 2021. "Does intensified communication of hedge funds with letters affect abnormal returns?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 127-142.
    15. Flugum, Ryan & Howe, John S., 2020. "Hedge fund activism and analyst uncertainty," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 206-227.
    16. Bessler, Wolfgang & Vendrasco, Marco, 2022. "Corporate control and shareholder activism in Germany: An empirical analysis of hedge fund strategies," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    17. Szu-Yin (Jennifer) Wu & Kee H. Chung, 2022. "Hedge Fund Activism and Corporate M&A Decisions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(2), pages 1378-1403, February.
    18. Brav, Alon & Jiang, Wei & Ma, Song & Tian, Xuan, 2018. "How does hedge fund activism reshape corporate innovation?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(2), pages 237-264.
    19. Barros, Victor & Verga Matos, Pedro & Miranda Sarmento, Joaquim & Rino Vieira, Pedro, 2021. "Do activist shareholders influence a manager’s decisions on a firm’s dividend policy: A mixed-method study," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 387-397.
    20. Anisa Safiah Maznorbalia & Muhammad Aiman Awalluddin & Ardzlyn Hawatul Yuhanis Ayob, 2023. "Exploring the role of institutional investors in voting, monitoring and dialogue engagement in mitigating agency conflict in Malaysia’s public listed companies," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Shareholder activism; Hedge funds; Shareholder voting; Corporate governance; Institutional investors; Conflicts of interest;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G39 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Other

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:162:y:2024:i:c:s0378426624000773. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbf .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.