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PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impact of ownership by large shareholders (blockholders) on corporate cash holdings. The study further investigates heterogeneity in the relationship between blockholder ownership and corporate cash holdings.Design/methodology/approachBuilding on the precautionary and agency motives of corporate cash holdings, the study focuses on publicly listed firms from 22 European countries for the period from 2006 to 2015. Multiple pooled ordinary least square and fixed effects regression models are employed to examine the relationship between blockholder ownership and firms’ cash holdings.FindingsThis study documents a positive relationship between blockholder ownership and corporate cash holdings which indicates the role of blockholders in influencing firms’ cash holdings policies. However, further analyses show that the effect of blockholding on cash holdings depends on the type of blockholder. While the relationship is still positive between cash holdings and ownership by strategic blockholders, it turns negative for the ownership by institutional blockholders.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides evidence for the important role played by firms’ ownership structures, and especially blockholding, in shaping firms’ cash holdings decisions. The findings are therefore of great value for investors, firms’ management and board and policy makers.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the literature by providing an explanation of the contradictory results documented in the literature on the impact of blockholders on corporate cash holdings. This study, to the best of the author’s knowledge, is the first to examine the effect of blockholder ownership on cash holdings by distinguishing between different types of blockholder.

This paper examines the performance of limited partners’ (LPs) investments in venture capital, private equity, and real asset funds (referred to as “alternative asset funds”) from 52 countries around the world over the period of 1995 to 2020. The data indicate that sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are significantly slower to fully liquidate and earn lower returns from their investments, particularly from their investments in venture capital funds. The longer duration and lower performance of SWFs is more pronounced for strategic SWFs than savings SWFs. We show that SWFs tend to invest in venture capital funds located in countries with lower-quality disclosure indices. Additionally, SWFs are more often involved in buyout funds and in larger funds that have greater number of limited partners. Overall, the data indicate sovereign wealth funds make large investments in alternative asset funds with a longer-term view and earn lower financial returns, which is consistent with strategic and political SWF investment objectives.

Allowing foreign strategic investors (FSIs) to hold minority stake in Chinese banks is very important for China’s banking. Based on data of 221 commercial banks from 2007 to 2015, we use difference in differences (DID) and propensity score matching (PSM) to investigate the effects of shareholding of FSIs on pricing of wealth management products (WMPs) for banks in China from single product view and every bank view. Besides, we further investigate the effects of bank ownership on above relationship. We find that FSIs’ acquisitions significantly enhance the expected rate of return of WMPs on both levels, however decrease the deviation of return of WMPs on single product level but have no evident effects on bank level. Finally, we find that the impact of acquisitions from foreign banks depend on Chinese banks’ ownership structure. Specifically, the effects of FSIs’ acquisitions on pricing of WMPs are positive for state-owned banks (SOBs), while are negative for city commercial banks.

Using China's data between 1995 and 2014, we employ the propensity score matching and difference in differences approaches to investigate the effects of foreign strategic investors (FSIs) on bank prudential behavior, and find the following results. First, lending behavior and reserve behavior become prudential after introducing FSIs. Second, FSIs assigning directors or managers could improve the bank's prudence. Third, the effects of FSIs on bank prudence are weaker in state-owned banks than in non-state-owned banks. Finally, further analyses show that FSIs may reduce bank risk through improving prudential behavior, that is, prudential behavior is a mediator between FSIs and bank risk.

The article aims at analyzing a particular occupational privilege of employees, commonly referred to as a benefits package. This social privilege is considered a real social and legal phenomenon by a large number of academics. This is because no legal regulations on the privatization and commercialization of Polish companies actually imposed it. The origin of this specific privilege lies in the pragmatic attitude of employees to the process of privatization of companies and selling their stocks to strategic investors. This type of agreements was supposed to protect staff from radical restructuring which the investor could implement upon buying the company. Owing to this privilege, employees were able to establish their own space of social security in the factory. The article presents examples of such documents, discusses their content and possible sanctions for the new owner of the factory (the signatory of the document) if the provisions of the document are not complied with.

The article aims at analyzing a particular occupational privilege of employees, commonly referred to as a benefits package. This social privilege is considered a real social and legal phenomenon by a large number of academics. This is because no legal regulations on the privatization and commercialization of Polish companies actually imposed it. The origin of this specific privilege lies in the pragmatic attitude of employees to the process of privatization of companies and selling their stocks to strategic investors. This type of agreements was supposed to protect staff from radical restructuring which the investor could implement upon buying the company. Owing to this privilege, employees were able to establish their own space of social security in the factory. The article presents examples of such documents, discusses their content and possible sanctions for the new owner of the factory (the signatory of the document) if the provisions of the document are not complied with.

This study investigates how syndicated investment among financial and strategic investors, such as independent venture capitalists (IVCs) and corporate venture capitalists (CVCs), affects the performance of the investee firms. While these different types of investors provide different but complementary non-financial value-added to the investee firms, their inherent differences in motives and objectives of the investment can also lead to conflict about the operational controls of the investee firms. Using a sample of VC-backed IPOs in the US stock market, we analyze how the composition of the investment syndicate influences the investee’s exit through IPO. Empirical results indicate that IVCs and CVCs could face increasing conflicts when they syndicate their investment with a balanced distribution of ownership. As a result, investees backed by these syndicates can incur delays to their IPO exit. By addressing the syndicate investment among different types of investors and its impact on the performance of the investee, this study complements the literature on entrepreneurial finance and IPOs.

Chinese authorities hoped that participation of foreign strategic investors (FSIs) could improve the profitability of Chinese banks both quantitatively and qualitatively. While past studies have typically focused on the effect of FSIs on banks' quantitative performance, this paper investigates the quality of profits through earnings management. We use matching theory to consider the selection bias. Our results demonstrate that banks with FSIs have improved the quality of their financial reports because they conducted less loss-avoidance management of earnings, but they engaged in as much management to avoid earnings growth decreases as non-FSI banks did.

Introducing foreign strategic investors is a vital step in Chinas ownership reform of commercial banks. Using data from 81 commercial banks in China between 1995 and 2010, we investigate the effects of introducing foreign strategic investors and ownership structure on net interest margins. Three primary results emerge. First, introducing foreign strategic investors reduces net interest margins. Second, state-owned commercial banks have lower net interest margins than non-state-owned commercial banks. Third, we also find the effects of introducing foreign strategic investors on net interest margins in state-owned commercial banks are weaker than those in non-state-owned commercial banks. These results passed robustness tests.

This paper provides an assessment of the Polish funded pension system and the quality of the regulatory framework for the accumulation phase. There are two elements that distinguish the Polish pension fund portfolios from other reforming countries: the relatively high component of domestic equity, and the negligible component on international securities. Although this asset allocation has provided relatively high real rates of return in the past, it may not be the case in the future, as further portfolio diversification to other instruments will become necessary to ensure sustainable rates of return. The paper provides a number of recommendations to expand the opportunities of investments to pension funds. Pension fund management companies have been able to exploit scale economies in certain areas of the business, such as collection of revenues. This study proposes mechanisms to enhance them even more by centralizing also the account management system, which may also help to increase portfolio efficiency and competition. With the payout phase starting in 2009, broad definitions in areas such as the role of the public and private sector need to be established. The paper examines products and options that authorities may consider for the design of the payout phase.