Short Course Description
This course will examine how and why ownership differs across countries and the implications for the governance of firms. It will look at the way institutions and law influence the landscape of ownership around the world and how ownership evolves in response to changes in the institutions and the legal environment. The country comparisons will include references to China, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, as well as the UK and the US. We will examine the influence of different forms of shareholder activism by various types of shareholders, in particular hedge funds, active asset managers and index funds. We will address the question, how do shareholders fare in response to engagement by the different types of asset managers? In addition, we shall discuss engagements by asset owners and asset managers with respect to ESG? How successful are they? I will include a case study of the Japanese Government?s Pension Fund (GPIF) efforts to persuade its asset managers to engage portfolio companies on ESG. GPIF pay a fee to its asset manager to engage with portfolio companies and increase their stake in those companies with high ESG scores.
Full Syllabus
