O Efeito da Família Jurídica na Transposição da Directiva das Ofertas Públicas de Aquisição

The Takeovers Directive conferred some degrees of freedom to the EU member countries. The real level of harmonization of the anti-takeover regimen after the transposition of the Directive was, concomitantly, reduced. This study investigates whether, in terms of investor protection, the hierarchy of legal systems established in La Porta et al. (1998) has had any impact on the transposition of the Directive. The paper concludes that countries of civil law of French origin chose solutions which were less favorable to the functioning of the market for corporate control. However, vis-à-vis countries with common law, countries with civilian law of Scandinavian or German origin chose solutions more favorable to the functioning of this market. Moreover, the paper finds evidence that countries made their choices in conformity with the importance of the respective stock markets.