IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wop/ohsrfe/9505.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Does Coordinated Institutional Activism Work? An Analysis of the Activities of the Council of Institutional Investors

Author

Listed:

Abstract

The Council of Institutional Investors is a group of public and private pension funds which collectively own over $800 billion in financial assets within the United States. The Council has provided a forum for these funds to coordinate and communicate with each other on a variety of matters including activism programs aimed at facilitating solution of problems in underperforming portfolio firms. The Council has issued a focus list of poorly performing firms for each of the last five years to its members who have the discretion to pursue activism programs. These lists have included well-publicized underperformers such as IBM, Kodak and Sears along with a variety of less known cases. This study documents the performance of 96 firms which appeared on the Councils focus lists in 1991, 1992 and 1993 relative to several control groups. Firms on Council focus lists experience poor share price performance in the year before before being included on a focus list. In the year after being listed, these firms experienced an average share price increase of 11.6% above the S&P 500. Given that the mean equity market value of Council listed firms was $3.42 billion we estimate a total abnormal dollar gain of these firms of $39.7 billion. This increase is broadly consistent with the view that coordinated institutional activism creates shareholder wealth.

Suggested Citation

  • Tim C. Opler & Jonathan Sokobin, "undated". "Does Coordinated Institutional Activism Work? An Analysis of the Activities of the Council of Institutional Investors," Research in Financial Economics 9505, Ohio State University.
    • Handle: RePEc:wop:ohsrfe:9505
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.cob.ohio-state.edu/~fin/journal/dice/papers/1995/95-5.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lakonishok, Josef & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1994. "Contrarian Investment, Extrapolation, and Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(5), pages 1541-1578, December.
    2. Kose John & April Klein, 1995. "Shareholder Proposals and Corporate Governance," New York University, Leonard N. Stern School Finance Department Working Paper Seires 98-046, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business-.
    3. Admati, Anat R & Pfleiderer, Paul & Zechner, Josef, 1994. "Large Shareholder Activism, Risk Sharing, and Financial Market Equilibrium," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(6), pages 1097-1130, December.
    4. Stephen L. Nesbitt, 1994. "LONG‐TERM REWARDS FROM SHAREHOLDER ACTIVISM: A STUDY OF THE “CalPERS EFFECT”," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 6(4), pages 75-80, January.
    5. Karpoff, Jonathan M. & Malatesta, Paul H. & Walkling, Ralph A., 1996. "Corporate governance and shareholder initiatives: Empirical evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 365-395, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Siala Bouaziz Souha & Jarboui Anis & David McMillan, 2016. "Corporate governance and firm characteristics as explanatory factors of shareholder activism: Validation through the French context," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 1150407-115, December.
    2. Peng, Fei & Kang, Lili & Jiang, Jun, 2011. "Selection and institutional shareholder activism in Chinese acquisitions," MPRA Paper 38701, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Kim, Woochan & Kim, Woojin & Kwon, Kap-Sok, 2009. "Value of outside blockholder activism: Evidence from the switchers," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 505-522, September.
    4. Artiga González, Tanja & Calluzzo, Paul, 2020. "A new breed of activism," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    5. Lars Nordén & Therese Strand, 2011. "Shareholder activism among portfolio managers: rational decisions or 15 minutes of fame?," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 15(3), pages 375-391, August.
    6. Crutchley, Claire E. & Hudson, Carl D. & Jensen, Marlin R. H., 1998. "Shareholder Wealth Effects of CalPERS' Activism," Financial Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 1-10.
    7. Simon Rafaqat & Sana Rafaqat & Sahil Rafaqat & Saoul Rafaqat & Dawood Rafaqat, 2023. "Shareholder Activism and Firm Performance: A Review," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 14(4), pages 31-41.
    8. Sudi Sudarsanam & Tim Broadhurst, 2012. "Corporate governance convergence in Germany through shareholder activism: Impact of the Deutsche Boerse bid for London Stock Exchange," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 16(2), pages 235-268, May.
    9. Stuart L. Gillan & Laura T. Starks, 2002. "Institutional Investors, Corporate Ownership, and Corporate Governance: Global Perspectives," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2002-09, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. Gillan, Stuart L. & Starks, Laura T., 2000. "Corporate governance proposals and shareholder activism: the role of institutional investors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 275-305, August.
    11. Stuart L. Gillan & Laura T. Starks, 2007. "The Evolution of Shareholder Activism in the United States," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 19(1), pages 55-73, January.
    12. Sadorsky, Perry, 2014. "Modeling volatility and conditional correlations between socially responsible investments, gold and oil," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 609-618.
    13. Woidtke, Tracie, 2002. "Agents watching agents?: evidence from pension fund ownership and firm value," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 99-131, January.
    14. Clifford, Christopher P., 2008. "Value creation or destruction? Hedge funds as shareholder activists," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 323-336, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gillan, Stuart L. & Starks, Laura T., 2000. "Corporate governance proposals and shareholder activism: the role of institutional investors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 275-305, August.
    2. Lars Nordén & Therese Strand, 2011. "Shareholder activism among portfolio managers: rational decisions or 15 minutes of fame?," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 15(3), pages 375-391, August.
    3. Faccio, Mara & Lasfer, M. Ameziane, 2000. "Do occupational pension funds monitor companies in which they hold large stakes?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 71-110, March.
    4. Guercio, Diane Del & Hawkins, Jennifer, 1999. "The motivation and impact of pension fund activism," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 293-340, June.
    5. Bethel, Jennifer E. & Hu, Gang & Wang, Qinghai, 2009. "The market for shareholder voting rights around mergers and acquisitions: Evidence from institutional daily trading and voting," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 129-145, February.
    6. Denes, Matthew R. & Karpoff, Jonathan M. & McWilliams, Victoria B., 2017. "Thirty years of shareholder activism: A survey of empirical research," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 405-424.
    7. Szilagyi, P.G., 2007. "Corporate governance and the agency costs of debt and outside equity," Other publications TiSEM 9520d40a-224f-43a8-9bf9-b, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    8. Richard Chung & Scott Fung & Szu-Yin Hung, 2012. "Institutional Investors and Firm Efficiency of Real Estate Investment Trusts," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 171-211, June.
    9. Konijn, Sander J.J. & Kräussl, Roman & Lucas, Andre, 2011. "Blockholder dispersion and firm value," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 1330-1339.
    10. Stuart L. Gillan & Laura T. Starks, 2002. "Institutional Investors, Corporate Ownership, and Corporate Governance: Global Perspectives," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2002-09, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Low, Angie & Makhija, Anil K. & Sanders, Anthony B., 2007. "The Impact of Shareholder Power on Bondholders: Evidence from Mergers and Acquisitions," Working Paper Series 2007-5, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    12. Ashbaugh-Skaife, Hollis & Collins, Daniel W. & LaFond, Ryan, 2006. "The effects of corporate governance on firms' credit ratings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 203-243, October.
    13. Yeh, Tsung-ming, 2017. "Determinants and consequences of shareholder proposals: The cases of board election, charter amendment, and profit disposal," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 245-261.
    14. Hadani, Michael & Goranova, Maria & Khan, Raihan, 2011. "Institutional investors, shareholder activism, and earnings management," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(12), pages 1352-1360.
    15. James M. Forjan, 1999. "The wealth effects of shareholder‐sponsored proposals," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(1), pages 61-72.
    16. Siala Bouaziz Souha & Jarboui Anis & David McMillan, 2016. "Corporate governance and firm characteristics as explanatory factors of shareholder activism: Validation through the French context," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 1150407-115, December.
    17. Jiang, George J. & Liu, Chang, 2021. "Getting on board: The monitoring effect of institutional directors," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    18. Golbe, Devra L. & Nyman, Ingmar, 2013. "How do share repurchases affect ownership concentration?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 22-40.
    19. Ghassen Allani, 2007. "Les entreprises cibles sont-elles sous-performantes avant l'OPA ?," Post-Print hal-04451829, HAL.
    20. Thomas Smythe & Chris McNeil & Philip English, 2015. "When does CalPERS’ activism add value?," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 39(4), pages 641-660, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wop:ohsrfe:9505. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Thomas Krichel (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dfohsus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.