This paper uses a new data-set to examine how internal capital markets and foreignownership affect investment. Our data allow us to compare investment behaviour of listedsubsidiaries with stand-alone firms while controlling for investment opportunities of parentand subsidiary firms. We evaluate how the size of ownership and the geographical proximityof majority owners to their subsidiaries affect firm investment efficiency. We find that theinvestment of subsidiaries is more sensitive to investment opportunities than that of standalonefirms and falls when investment opportunities of parent firms improve. This suggeststhat there are internal capital markets that reallocate funds towards units with betterinvestment opportunities. We find that investment allocation is most efficient where parentshave modest ownership stakes and are distant from their subsidiaries and when subsidiariesoperate in well developed financial markets. These results indicate that influence costsimposed by dominant parents may outweigh their potential informational benefits, especiallywhen subsidiaries are located in countries with weaker financial development.
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Paper provided by Centre for Economic Performance, LSE in its series CEP Discussion Papers with number
dp0744.
Find related papers by JEL classification: F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Investment Policy
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