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Financial distress, corporate control, and management turnover

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  • Jostarndt, Philipp
  • Sautner, Zacharias

Abstract

We empirically investigate the effect of financial distress on corporate ownership and control. Our analysis is based on a panel of 267 German firms that suffered from repeated interest coverage shortfalls between 1996 and 2004. We track each firm's development over the distress cycle with particular attention to corporate ownership, restructuring, and management turnover. We find a significant decrease in ownership concentration. Private investors gradually give up their dominating role and thereby cease to be an effective source of managerial control. By contrast, ownership representation by banks and outside investors almost doubles. Shareholdings by executive and non-executive directors also substantially increase but have no effect on managerial tenure. Forced management turnover is mostly initiated by outside investors and banks and often occurs subsequent to debt restructurings, block investments, and takeovers.

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  • Jostarndt, Philipp & Sautner, Zacharias, 2008. "Financial distress, corporate control, and management turnover," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 2188-2204, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:32:y:2008:i:10:p:2188-2204
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    7. Konstantaras, Konstantinos & Siriopoulos, Costas, 2011. "Estimating financial distress with a dynamic model: Evidence from family owned enterprises in a small open economy," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 239-255, October.
    8. Ludovico Maria Cocco & Elisa Cavezzali & Ugo Rigoni & Giorgia Simion, 2024. "How does soft information on the causes of default affect debt renegotiation? The Italian evidence," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 45-89, March.
    9. Ahsan Habib & Mabel D' Costa & Hedy Jiaying Huang & Md. Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan & Li Sun, 2020. "Determinants and consequences of financial distress: review of the empirical literature," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(S1), pages 1023-1075, April.
    10. Florian Habermann & Felix Bernhard Fischer, 2023. "Corporate Social Performance and the Likelihood of Bankruptcy: Evidence from a Period of Economic Upswing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(1), pages 243-259, January.
    11. Jorge Antunes & Peter Wanke & Thiago Fonseca & Yong Tan, 2023. "Do ESG Risk Scores Influence Financial Distress? Evidence from a Dynamic NDEA Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-32, May.
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    13. Vikas Mehrotra & Randall Morck, 2017. "Governance and Stakeholders," NBER Working Papers 23460, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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