Monthly Archives: December 2014

The Allergan Aftermath

Posted by Yaron Nili, Co-editor, HLS Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, on
Thursday, December 4, 2014
, , , , , , , , , , ,
More from: , , , ,

The following post comes to us from Philip Richter, partner and co-head of the Mergers and Acquisitions Practice at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, and is based on a Fried Frank publication by Mr. Richter, John E. Sorkin, David N. Shine, and Gail Weinstein.

Valeant’s failed acquisition bid for Allergan has underscored longstanding M&A principles—even as the involvement of shareholder activists in the M&A arena has introduced new technologies, opportunities, and challenges. In the aftermath of the Allergan saga, it is clear that Pershing Square was richly rewarded for having crafted a novel bidder-activist collaboration model. The outcome for Valeant, however, notwithstanding the creative collaboration, is that its bid ultimately failed, and in the most conventional of ways (losing to a superior offer from an alternative bidder).

READ MORE »

Three Pathways to Global Standards: Private, Regulator, and Ministry Networks

Posted by June Rhee, Co-editor, HLS Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, on
Thursday, December 4, 2014
, , , , ,
More from:

The following post comes to us from Stavros Gadinis of University of California, Berkeley Law School.

Scores of governments around the world have chosen to introduce international standards as domestic law, even though they were not legally obliged to do so. The drafters of these standards are not sovereigns or international organizations, but transnational regulatory networks: informal meetings of experts from various countries, some with government affiliations, and others without. Networks have puzzled scholars for years. Fascinated by the institutional novelty of the network phenomenon, some theorists praised their speed, informality, and lack of hierarchy. Others were not so enthralled. They were concerned about the influence of interest groups or the weight of big countries. This debate has examined both the inputs to the network phenomenon—preferences—and the outputs—global coordination—but has not discussed the mechanism: how do we get from preferences to standards? How do these networks come together, what is their strategy for their success? My new study, Three Pathways to Global Standards: Private, Regulator, and Ministry Networks, seeks to open up the black box of network standard setting and analyze these mechanisms. It proposes a new theoretical framework that distinguishes among private, regulator, and ministry networks, and presents empirical evidence that illustrates why these three network types appeal to different countries for different reasons.

READ MORE »

Misalignment Between Corporate Economic Performance, Shareholder Return And Executive Compensation

Posted by Yaron Nili, Co-editor, HLS Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, on
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
, , , , , , ,
More from: , , , , , ,

The following post comes to us from Jon Lukomnik of the IRRC Institute and is based on the summary of a report commissioned by the IRRC Institute and authored by Mark Van Clieaf and Karel Leeflang of Organizational Capital Partners and Stephen O’Byrne of Shareholder Value Advisors; the full report is available here.

Investors, directors and corporate executive management share common interests when it comes to company performance and economic value creation.

Yet, whilst this commonality is laudable, a review of performance measurement and long-term incentive plan design for USA public companies identifies that current practice is less than clear in measuring and aligning these interests in a manner that is robust and meaningful.

READ MORE »

Methods for Multicountry Studies of Corporate Governance

Posted by Bernard Black, Northwestern University School of Law, on
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
, , , , , , , ,
More from: , , , ,

Bernard Black is the Nicholas D. Chabraja Professor at Northwestern University School of Law and Kellogg School of Management. The following post is based on a paper co-authored by Professor Black, Professor Antonio Gledson de Carvalho of Fundacao Getulio Vargas School of Business at Sao Paulo, Professor Vikramaditya Khanna at the University of Michigan, Professor Woochan Kim at Korea University Business School and Professor Burcin Yurtoglu at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management. Work from the Program on Corporate Governance about the relationship between corporate governance and firm value includes Learning and the Disappearing Association between Governance and Returns by Lucian Bebchuk, Alma Cohen, and Charles C. Y. Wang (discussed on the Forum here).

There is a vast and growing literature using multi-country studies to examine the effects of corporate governance on firm value. In our paper, Methods for Multicountry Studies of Corporate Governance: Evidence from the BRIKT Countries, forthcoming in the Journal of Econometrics and recently made publicly available on SSRN, we explore the empirical challenges in multicountry studies of the effect of firm-level corporate governance on firm market value, focusing on emerging markets, and propose methods to respond to those challenges. Our study has implications for multicountry studies in other spheres as well.

READ MORE »

Some Thoughts for Boards of Directors in 2015

Posted by Martin Lipton, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, on
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
, , , , , , , , , , ,
More from: , , ,

Martin Lipton is a founding partner of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, specializing in mergers and acquisitions and matters affecting corporate policy and strategy. This post is based on a Wachtell Lipton memorandum by Mr. Lipton, Stephen A. Rosenblum, and Karessa L. Cain.

The challenges that directors of public companies face in carrying out their duties continue to grow. The end goal remains the same, to oversee the successful, profitable and sustainable operations of their companies. But the pressures that confront directors, from activism and short-termism, to ongoing shifts in governance, to global risks and competition, are many. A few weeks ago we issued an updated list of key issues that boards will be expected to deal with in the coming year (accessible at this link: The Spotlight on Boards, and discussed on the Forum here). Highlighted below are a few of the more significant issues and trends that we believe directors should bear in mind as they consider their companies’ priorities and objectives and seek to meet their companies’ goals.

READ MORE »

The Efficacy of Shareholder Voting in Staggered and Non-Staggered Boards

Posted by R. Christopher Small, Co-editor, HLS Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, on
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
, , , , , ,
More from: , ,

The following post comes to us from Ronen Gal-Or and Udi Hoitash, both of the Department of Accounting at Northeastern University, and Rani Hoitash of the Department of Accountancy at Bentley University. Recent work from the Program on Corporate Governance about staggered boards includes: How Do Staggered Boards Affect Shareholder Value? Evidence from a Natural Experiment (discussed on the Forum here).

In our paper, The Efficacy of Shareholder Voting in Staggered and Non-Staggered Boards: The Case of Audit Committee Elections, which was recently made available on SSRN, we study the efficacy of audit committee member elections in staggered and non-staggered boards.

Voting in director elections and auditor ratifications is a primary mechanism shareholders can use to voice their opinion. Past research shows that shareholders cast votes against directors that exhibit poor performance, and these votes, in turn, are associated with subsequent board reaction. However, because a significant number of U.S. public companies have staggered boards, not all directors are up for election every year. Therefore, the efficacy of shareholder votes may not be uniform. Under the staggered board voting regime, shareholders and proxy advising firms can typically voice their opinion on any given director only once every three years. This election structure may increase the likelihood that directors who are not up for election following poor performance will be insulated from the scrutiny of shareholders and proxy advisors. In turn, this may influence the accountability of staggered directors and the overall efficacy of shareholder votes.

READ MORE »

The Future of the Bidder-Activist Collaboration Model

Posted by Yaron Nili, Co-editor, HLS Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, on
Monday, December 1, 2014
, , , , , , , , , ,
More from: , , , ,

The following post comes to us from Philip Richter, partner and co-head of the Mergers and Acquisitions Practice at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, and is based on a Fried Frank publication by Mr. Richter, John E. Sorkin, David N. Shine, and Gail Weinstein.

On November 17, 2014, Allergan, Inc. announced a $66 billion merger agreement with Actavis plc, thwarting the pending $53 billion bid for Allergan by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. Valeant had teamed up with Pershing Square, a fund run by activist investor Bill Ackman, to facilitate an acquisition of Allergan by Valeant. Although the Valeant bid has failed, Pershing Square apparently will recognize a gain of well over $2 billion on consummation of the Actavis merger.

The distinguishing feature of Valeant’s now-failed pursuit of Allergan was the bidder-activist collaboration itself, which was the focal point for public attention throughout the saga. Corporate America’s initial reaction to the Pershing Square-Valeant model was fear that the model would be followed by others, unleashing a new wave of hostile takeover activity in a context that appears to make target companies particularly vulnerable. Now, at the end-point of Valeant’s bid for Allergan, we note the following:

READ MORE »

Short Selling Pressure, Stock Price Behavior, and Management Forecast Precision

Posted by R. Christopher Small, Co-editor, HLS Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, on
Monday, December 1, 2014
, , , , , , , ,
More from: ,

The following post comes to us from Yinghua Li of the School of Accountancy at Arizona State University and Liandong Zhang at City University of Hong Kong.

Corporate executives pay considerable attention to secondary market prices and they have strong incentives to maintain or increase the level of their firms’ stock prices. The accounting literature has long recognized that managers can make strategic financial reporting or disclosure choices to influence stock prices. A large body of empirical research examines whether and how corporate disclosures affect stock prices. The literature, however, provides little directional evidence on whether the behavior of stock prices has a causal effect on managerial strategic disclosure decisions. The difficulty in establishing causality stems largely from the endogenous nature of stock prices. In the paper, Short Selling Pressure, Stock Price Behavior, and Management Forecast Precision: Evidence from a Natural Experiment, which is forthcoming in Journal of Accounting Research, we use a randomized experiment, the Regulation SHO pilot program, to examine the causal effect of stock price behavior on managers’ voluntary disclosure choices.

READ MORE »

Page 5 of 5
1 2 3 4 5