Download or read book Public Pension Fund Activism and M A Activity written by Lily Xiaoli Qiu and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper shows that firms engage in less Mamp;A activity when they have large public pension fund (PPF) owners. For example, the presence of a 5% PPF blockholder reduces the frequency of acquisitions by about 7%. An extra 3% in ownership by the top PPF owner reduces the size of acquisition (measured as a fraction of acquiror value) by about 3%. The effect is stronger when PPF ownership is more concentrated and when firms suffer from greater agency conflicts. The presence of other types of institutions and managerial compensation has no Mamp;A reducing effect. These findings suggest that public pension funds play an important and unusual role in corporate governance.

Download or read book Shareholder Activism by Public Pension Funds and the Rights of Dissenting Employees Under the First Amendment written by Eric Alden and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Public pension funds enjoy significant voting power in the U.S. publicly traded corporations by virtue of the aggregated retirement assets at their disposal. Many funds are engaged in a concerted drive to assert shareholder control rights with respect to such corporations and to effect a host of environmental, social, and governance reforms in American business. Although many public-sector employees may applaud the goals and objectives of these public pension funds, not all will. This Article argues that dissenting employees whom the law compels to contribute to such funds have a First Amendment right to object to having their pro rata portion of publicly traded shares held by such funds voted by fund administrators for the purpose of advancing goals of a political or ideological nature not germane to the fund's core mission of providing retirement benefits to participants. This argument, which has not been addressed by courts or the academic literature, would extend firmly established First Amendment caselaw to a novel area of application.In making this argument, this Article addresses the Supreme Court's developing government speech doctrine, under which citizens may challenge compelled support of private speech but have no First Amendment right not to fund government speech. The Article argues that the political and ideological activities of a public pension fund, at least in the case of the leading public pension fund, CalPERS, should be treated as those of the public pension fund itself, and not ascribed to the state, for purposes of the First Amendment. The Article suggests using an “independent instrumentality” test to ascertain whether the relevant legislature has by statute created a body not subject to effective control by the executive branch of government, such that courts should not attribute the instrumentality's political and ideological activities to the government for the purposes of the government speech doctrine.

Download or read book Is Pay to Play Driving Public Pension Fund Activism in Securities Class Actions An Empirical Study written by David H. Webber and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The recent emergence of public pension funds as frequent lead plaintiffs in securities class actions has prompted speculation that the funds' litigation activism is driven by “pay-to-play”. “Pay-to-play” posits that public pension funds are driven by politician board members to obtain lead plaintiff appointments in securities class actions because of campaign contributions made by plaintiffs' lawyers to those board members. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the securities litigation activity of 111 such funds from the years 2003 through 2006. Three of the paper's findings cast doubt on the “pay-to-play” theory, including that: (1) politicians and political control negatively correlate with lead plaintiff appointments; (2) beneficiary board members - and outright beneficiary control of the board - positively correlate with such appointments; and (3) the degree of a pension fund's underfunding positively correlates with lead plaintiff appointments, particularly when the fund is controlled by beneficiaries. The substantial role played by beneficiary board members in driving the funds' litigation activism is analyzed by the author in the context of prior literature comparing such board members to corporate managers with an equity stake in a corporation. The paper also finds no support for the theory that unions drive beneficiary board members to obtain lead plaintiff appointments, and offers evidence that resistance by politicians to lead plaintiff appointments correlates with the degree of business influence in the politicians' home states.

Download or read book Great Expectations from Pension Fund Activism written by Agnieszka Slomka-Golebiowska and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study examines private pension funds' preferences for shareholder activism in Poland in closely-held firms that dominate stock exchanges in emerging markets. The results show that the major institutional investors engage in a limited spectrum of shareholder activities. Most often they seek to contact the company's management board members as well as supervisory board members if they are dissatisfied with a portfolio company. None of the funds even considers public criticism or litigation. The form of shareholder activism selected by different funds and the sequence do not vary substantially. The reasons lie in the internal benchmark. However, the largest pension funds tend to be more active than the rest. They choose low-cost and low-risk forms of activism, but they hardly participate in any corporate governance organizations. They avoid highly visible and confrontational activities.

Download or read book Investment Practices of State and Local Pension Funds written by Annika E. Sundén and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The investment practices of public pension funds have become a topic of major interest in the wake of President Clinton's 1999 proposal to invest a portion of the Social Security Trust Funds in equities. Both supporters and opponents of the proposal point to the performance of public plans to argue their case. Supporters cite the success of Federal plans, particularly the Federal Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), which has avoided picking individual stocks by investing in a stock index and has steered clear of projects with less than market returns. Divestiture of stocks for social or political reasons has also not been a problem, and TSP has avoided government intervention in the private sector since individual portfolio managers vote the proxies. Opponents of Social Security Trust Fund investment in equities point to state and local pension funds. They contend that state and local pensions often undertake investments that sacrifice return to achieve political or social goals, divest stocks to demonstrate that they do not support some perceived immoral or unethical behavior, and intervene in corporate activity. Opponents claim that if Social Security's investment options were broadened, Congress would use the Trust Fund money for similar unproductive activities. An important question is the extent to which allegations about state and local plans are true. This study explores four possible avenues through which social or political considerations could enter the investment decisions of state and local pension funds. The first section focuses on economically targeted investments (ETIs), those investments that are designed to meet some special need within the state. The second section looks at instances of pension fund activism, whereby the fund managers attempt to influence corporate behavior to improve profitability or other aspects of corporate performance. The third section investigates the extent to which state and local pension plans have avoided or divested certain holdings in order to make a political or ethical statement. The fourth section investigates the extent to which states and localities have used pension funds as an escape valve for general budget pressures. This comprehensive review yields the following conclusions. First, economically targeted investments account for no more than 2.5 percent of total state and local holdings. Although early studies showed plans sacrificing considerable return for targeting their investments to in-state activities, recent survey data reveal no adverse impact on returns as a result of the current small amount of ETI activity. Second, public plans in only three states have seriously engaged in shareholder activism, and this activism appears to have been motivated by a desire to improve the bottom line not to make a political statement. The literature suggests that this activity has had a negligible to positive impact on returns. Third, the only significant divestiture that has occurred was related to companies doing business in South Africa before 1994. This was a unique situation where worldwide consensus among industrial nations led to a global ban on investment in that country. With respect to tobacco, public plans have generally resisted divestiture, and only a few have actually sold their stock. Finally, state and local governments have borrowed occasionally from their pension funds or reduced their contributions in the wake of budget pressures, but this activity has been restrained by the courts and frequently reversed. In short, the story that emerges at the state and local level is that while in the early 1980s some public plans sacrificed returns for social considerations, plan managers have become much more sophisticated. Today, public plans appear to be performing as well as private plans.

Download or read book The Political Limits of Public Pension Fund Activism in Corporate Governance written by Roberta Romano and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 55 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Public Pension Fund Activism in Corporate Governance Reconsidered written by Roberta Romano and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 59 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Hedge Fund Activism written by Alon Brav and published by Now Publishers Inc. This book was released on 2010 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hedge Fund Activism begins with a brief outline of the research literature and describes datasets on hedge fund activism.

Download or read book Public Pension Fund Activism and Firm Performance written by Sunil Wahal and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper studies the efficacy of pension fund activism and the ability or willingness of these funds to vote with their feet. I examine all firms targeted by nine major funds over a seven year period (1987-1993). Targeting announcements are associated with a small but significant wealth effect for a subset of firms. However, there is no evidence of improvement in the long-term stock price performance of targeted firms. In fact, performance continues to decline even three years after targeting. Moreover, in contrast to other institutions, pension funds do not appear to significantly reduce their holdings in underperforming firms in general, or in firms that they target. Collectively, the results cast doubt on the effectiveness of public pension fund activism as a substitute for an active market for corporate control.

Download or read book Governance of Public Pension Funds written by David Hess and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An understanding of corporate governance theory can promote the adoption of appropriate governance tools to limit agency problems in public pension fund management. The absence of a market for corporate control hinders the translation of lessons from the private sector corporate world to public pension governance. The establishment of a fit, and proper governing body for public pension funds, thus may be even more important than the maintenance of a comparable body for private sector corporations. In particular, behavioral controls should be carefully designed.

Download or read book The Future of Public Employee Retirement Systems written by Gary Anderson and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2009-08-13 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: People covered by public pensions are often the subject of 'pension envy:' that is, their benefits might seem more generous and their contributions lower than those offered by the private sector. Yet this book points out that such judgments are often inaccurate, since civil servants hold jobs with few counterparts in private industry, such as firefighters, police, judges, and teachers. Often these are riskier, dirtier, and demand more loyalty and discretion than would be required of a more mobile labor force in the private sector. The debate challenges traditional ideas about how the public employee labor contract is structured and raises questions about how such employees are attracted to the public sector, retained and motivated on the job, and retired, via an entire compensation package of wages and benefits. Authors explore aspects of these schemes, addressing the cost and valuation debate, along with the political economy of how public pension asset pools are perceived and managed, an increasingly important topic in times of global financial turmoil. The discussion also explores ways that public pensions can be strengthened in the US, Japan, Canada, and Germany. The volume captures a vigorous debate currently underway by academics, financial experts, regulators, and plan sponsors, all seeking to define a new future for public retirement systems. It will be of substantial interest to a wide range of readers, since public sector employees and their representatives will naturally find the comparisons and arguments over valuation of keen interest. Public pension administrators and policymakers seeking an explanation of what makes these plans so costly will gain a new understanding of how the arguments stack up. Private sector employers and plan sponsors can learn much from efforts to reform these retirement systems in states and countries around the world. Finally, investors and the taxpaying public more generally may be at risk to cover these long-term promises, so it behoves them to pay close attention to the financing and investment practices of these plans, along with their valuation. This volume represents an invaluable addition to the Pension Research Council / Oxford University Press series as it includes actuarial, economic, and financial perspectives making it useful for academics, retirement plan administrators, and public employees wishing to understand the challenges facing public pensions.

Download or read book Institutional Investors and Corporate Governance written by Theodor Baums and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2011-05-02 with total page 725 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The volume contains 23 articles by international experts, both scholars and practioners dealing with the development of institutional investors (such as banks, insurances, investment companies, pension funds etc.), their investment and voting policies, the impact on managements of the companies concerned and related issues. The consequences of the international development on capital markets as well as policy implications for the respective national legislations are treated.

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Law and Governance written by Jeffrey Neil Gordon and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 1217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Corporate law and governance are at the forefront of regulatory activities worldwide, and subject to increasing public attention in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis. Comprehensively referencing the key debates, the Handbook provides a much-needed framework for understanding the aims and methods of legal research in the field.

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of State and Local Government Finance written by Robert D. Ebel and published by OUP USA. This book was released on 2012-03-21 with total page 1057 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook evaluates the persistent problems in the fiscal systems of state and local governments and what can be done to solve them. Each chapter provides a description of the discipline area, examines major developments in policy practices and research, and opines on future prospects.

Download or read book Corporate Governance Strengthening Latin American Corporate Governance The Role of Institutional Investors written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2011-07-01 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report reflects long-term, in-depth discussion and debate by participants in the Latin American Roundtable on Corporate Governance.

Download or read book Hedge Fund Activism in Japan written by John Buchanan and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-05-24 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hedge fund activism is an expression of shareholder primacy, an idea that has come to dominate discussion of corporate governance theory and practice worldwide over the past two decades. This book provides a thorough examination of public and often confrontational hedge fund activism in Japan in the period between 2001 and the full onset of the global financial crisis in 2008. In Japan this shareholder-centric conception of the company espoused by activist hedge funds clashed with the alternative Japanese conception of the company as an enduring organisation or a 'community'. By analysing this clash, the book derives a fresh view of the practices underpinning corporate governance in Japan and offers suggestions regarding the validity of the shareholder primacy ideas currently at the heart of US and UK beliefs about the purpose of the firm.

Download or read book The Wolf at the Door written by John C. Coffee and published by . This book was released on 2016-02-10 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Wolf at the Door: The Impact of Hedge Fund Activism on Corporate Governance has three basic aims: to understand and explain the factors that have caused an explosion in hedge fund activism; to examine the impact of this activism; and to survey and evaluate possible legal interventions with an emphasis on the least restrictive alternative.