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Contracts Between Firms and Shareholders

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  • JORDAN SCHOENFELD

Abstract

Theory predicts the existence of explicit bilateral contracts between firms and expert shareholders. I assemble and analyze a large‐scale data set of these contracts. Using block investments from 1996 to 2018, I find that these contracts involve mainly corporate owners and activist owners, and often specify covenants pertaining to financing, trading, directorships, dividends, joint ventures, corporate investment, financial reporting, and information access. I also find that some of the contract covenants are stated in terms of accounting information, and that the prevalence of these contracts is significantly positively associated with measures of information asymmetry between managers and shareholders. Overall, this study provides some of the first systematic evidence on explicit bilateral contracts between firms and shareholders.

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  • Jordan Schoenfeld, 2020. "Contracts Between Firms and Shareholders," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(2), pages 383-427, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:joares:v:58:y:2020:i:2:p:383-427
    DOI: 10.1111/1475-679X.12297
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