IFin Seminar, Amil Dasgupta, London School of Economics - "The Wall Street Stampede: Exit as Governance with Interacting Blockholders"
Institute of Finance
Date: 24 January 2019 / 12:25 - 13:40
Seminar Title: "The Wall Street Stampede: Exit as Governance with Interacting Blockholders"
Amil Dasgupta, London School of Economics
12:25 - 13:40
Room A34 (red building)
Lugano Campus
Abstract:
In firms with multiple blockholders governance via exit is affected by how blockholders react to each others' exit. Institutional investors, who hold the majority of equity blocks, are heterogeneous in their incentives. How do these incentives affect the manner in which institutional blockholders respond to each others' exit? We present a model that shows that open-ended institutional investors, who are subject to investor redemption risk, will be sensitive to an informed blockholder's exit, giving rise to correlated exits and strengthening governance. Thus, exposure to redemption risk, universally a negative force in asset pricing, plays a positive role in corporate governance. Using data on engagement campaigns by activist hedge funds we present large-sample evidence consistent with our theoretical mechanism.
