Below are abstracts
and links to some recent coverage in the media about the ECGI.
Please note that many of the articles are available only through
subscription to the newspaper/journal in question.
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|
| Socialist
ideal that tied up Swedish riches |
| Date |
Financial
Times 16 October 2003 |
 |
| Authors |
Peter
Hogfeldt |
| Abstract |
Not
despite but because of strong Social Democratic political
influence since 1932, control of the largest listed firms
in Sweden has remained firmly in the hands of a few old families
and banks via pyramids and by extensive use of dual-class
shares.
A combination of wealth, inheritance and capital gains taxes
locked capital into the established firms while heavy tax
subsidization of retained earnings and R&D spending supported
growth by stimulating investments, often in very large projects
joint with the government. |
| Access |
From
ft.com |
|
| France
has the fattest cats |
| Date |
Financial
Times 23 June 2003 |
 |
| Authors |
Paul
Betts |
| Abstract |
The
French excel in many things: good food and wine, mathematics,
haute couture, love-making, rugby, handball - and, somewhat
surprisingly, in the art of paying handsomely the patrons
of their largest listed companies.
Research* by a group of academics affiliated to the Brussels-based
European Corporate Governance Institute on reported pay
practices among FTSE Eurotop 300 companies reveals that
French bosses earn more.
Executive Remuneration in the EU: Comparative Law and Practices.
By Guido Ferrarini, University of Genoa ; Niamh Moloney,
Queen's University, Belfast; Cristina Vespro, Université
Libre de Bruxelles |
| Access |
From
ft.com |
|
| INSIDE
TRACK: Italy's firm family ties |
| Date |
Financial
Times: March 24, 2003 |
 |
| Authors |
Paul
Betts |
| Abstract |
Managerial
capitalism is taking root. But the country's tradition of
public companies controlled by powerful founding families
is not yet ready to bow out. |
| Access |
From
ft.com |
|
| INSIDE
TRACK: Takeovers that broke family ties |
| Date |
Financial Times: February
4, 2003 |
 |
| Authors |
Julian
Franks, Colin
Mayer and Stefano Rossi |
| Abstract |
Families dominate the
ownership of many corporations. The Peugeots in France, the
Quandts in Germany (who run BMW) and the Agnellis in Italy
control some of the biggest global companies. Yet family power
is virtually absent from the ownership of large UK and US
corporations. Share ownership in the UK is dispersed among
a large number of individual and institutional investors.Why
has this difference emerged? One widely cited explanation
is regulation. The UK has an unusually rigorous system of
investor protection for small, minority investors. The clearest
example of this is in takeovers. The UK has a takeover code
that requires acquiring companies to offer all shareholders
of the target company the same price for their shares. |
| Access |
From ft.com |
|
| INSIDE
TRACK: The complex evolution of family affairs |
| Date |
Financial Times: February
3, 2003 |
 |
| Authors |
Marco
Becht, Paul Betts and Randall Morck |
| Abstract |
In a series of
monthly articles, the FT will chart the evolution of the
great mercantile dynasties of the UK, Italy, India, Canada,
Japan, China, France, Germany, the US, the Netherlands and
Sweden. The articles will examine how family ownership has
developed and look at why corporate control varies so much
between countries.
|
| Access |
From
ft.com |
|
| Taking
stock of options |
| Date |
FT Special
Reports / FT fund management; January 26, 2003 |
| Author |
By Paul Betts
|
| Abstract |
Executive
pay provoked regular political and public uproar well before
the recent rash of corporate scandals.
During a round table discussion organised by the European
Corporate Governance Institute in Brussels, Bengt Holmstrom,
Paul A Samuelson Professor of Economics at MIT, kicked off
saying that stock options had been an important lubricant
for corporate restructuring in the US in the 1990s and played
a key role in motivating and changing the mindset of executives.
At the same round table in Brussels, Count Maurice Lippens,
chairman of Fortis, the Belgo-Dutch financial services group,
brought everybody back to earth. If existing corporate governance
rules had been applied, the cross-border merger in 1990 between
a Dutch and a Belgian insurance company would never have occurred.
That has not stopped the merged group expanding its assets
from €28bn in 1990 to €500bn today. |
| Access |
From ft.com |
|
| PEOPLE:
Corporate governance institute names academics |
| Date |
Financial Times; July 15, 2002 |
|
| Author |
By Paul Betts |
|
| Abstract |
The
recently constituted European Corporate Governance Institute
has appointed 21 distinguished academics as inaugural fellows
to provide intellectual leadership for the Brussels-based
organisation. The ECGI was founded this year as an international
scientific non-profit association to provide a forum for
debate and dialogue between academics, legislators, policymakers
and practitioners on corporate governance and the promotion
of best practice - an issue that is now topping the political
and business agenda following a series of corporate scandals
in the US. |
| Access |
From ft.com |
|
|
| INSIDE
TRACK: A threat to dual-class shares |
| Date |
Financial Times; May 31, 2002 |
|
| Author |
By Lucian
Bebchuk and Oliver Hart |
|
| Abstract |
The report
by the high-level group of company law experts contains much
that is sensible about takeover policy. However, there is
one element of the report - the breakthrough rule - whose
import goes well beyond the regulation of takeovers. Much
of what the report seeks to accomplish would not require this
rule. And the rule would have significant and possibly undesirable
consequences for ownership patterns. |
| Access |
From ft.com
Local download |
|
|
| Viewpoint:
Fighting the wrong problem |
| Date |
Financial Times; May 31, 2002 |
|
| Author |
By Erik
Berglof and Mike Burkart |
|
| Abstract |
European
capitalism is to be given a new face. The report by a group
of experts led by Jaap Winter seeks to open up Europe for
corporate takeovers by letting the all-powerful manager replace
the controlling shareholder at the helm. After decades of
failed attempts and a stinging defeat in the European parliament
last year, the European Commission remains committed to a
pan-European takeover directive. It thinks that more takeovers
will lead to more restructuring, and Europe badly needs more
restructuring. |
| Access |
From ft.com
Local download |
|
|
| Borges's
fundraising advice |
| Date |
Institutional
Investor (International Edition - Europe) February 2002 |
| Abstract |
Can an academic group studying corporate
governance solicit cash from companies without sacrificing
its integrity? Antonio Borges, Chairman of the European Corporate
Governance Institute, thinks so. How? "You take corporate
money," he says, "but you take it from a wide a
range of corporate sponsors as possible." |
 |
| Access |
From www.iiplatinum.com |
|
| The
educated approach to a well-run company |
| Date |
Financial
Times; January 31, 2002 |
 |
| Author |
Paul Betts |
| Abstract |
The economic
slowdown has made investors focus on how businesses are managed.
A new European body aims to deepen their understanding. |
| Access |
From ft.com
Reprint available from the ECGI
Secretariat |
|
| INTERNATIONAL
ECONOMY: Good governance goal for Europe |
| Date |
Financial Times; January
15, 2002 |
|
| Author |
Paul Betts |
|
| Abstract |
A pan-European
research centre is to be launched in Brussels today to improve
cross-border scrutiny in European corporate governance.
The constitution of the European Corporate Governance Institute
(ECGI) coincides with an increase in shareholder activism
in continental Europe and efforts by the European Commission
and EU |
| Access |
From ft.com |
|
