NEWSLETTER of February 21, 2020

The following content has been added at finexpert:

finexpert|ValueTrust German Takeover Report 2020 (February 2020)

Content
3 Market Overview
11 Capital Market Reaction
15 Statements & Fairness Opinions
21 Success Rates
27 Takeover Case Study: OSRAM Licht AG
30 Transaction Details 2019

We updated the capital market data

(Multiples, Betas and Returns) as to January 15, 2020 >more

KPMG

SUSTAINABLE INVESTING: FAST-FORWARDING ITS EVOLUTION

KPMG International, CREATE-Research, AIMA and CAIA Association, examine in detail sustainability investing and its impact on the alternative investment industry. The research includes insights from 135 institutional investors, hedge fund managers, long only managers and pension consultants in 13 countries in all the key regions. >more

White & Case

EUROPEAN LEVERAGED FINANCE: A BIFURCATED BALANCING ACT

As we enter the new decade, the resilient European leveraged finance market continues to grow and mature. The market is agile and has continued to deal with significant changes, ranging from the mix of leveraged loans and high yield bonds to the impact of direct lenders, sectoral and regional changes, as well as politics across Europe, including considerations relating to Brexit. >more

Mergermarket

DEAL DRIVERS EMEA FY 2019

After several record-breaking years for M&A in EMEA, activity appears to finally be slowing down, albeit gradually. A decline in megadeal activity was responsible for a 16% fall in M&A value to €696bn in 2019 while volume dropped 6% to 7,655 deals. However, PMB had another big year, topping the value chart for the first time this decade with 21% of total M&A value at €145.4bn. This reports provides an in-depth review of M&A activity for 2019, offering insights into how announced deals will impact M&A for the year ahead. >more

KfW Research

START-UP REPORT 2019

The number of innovation- or growth-driven young enterprises in Germany has increased again. In 2018 there were 70,000 start-ups, after 60,000 in the previous year. On average, nine in 100 businesses founded by men have start-up characteristics, as opposed to only three in 100 for women. Businesses founded by women and men differ primarily in how strongly they are innovation- and growth-driven. Examples of suitable measures for closing the gender gap include stepping up efforts to attract women to technical and scientific careers and teaching business skills to school students. >more

DWS

HOW EUROPEAN INSURANCE REGULATORS ARE RESPONDING TO CLIMATE RISK

According to several industry assessments, insurers are largely failing in their efforts to achieve many of their ambitions. DWS’s analysis of 35 major European listed insurance companies found only 15 companies with an A or B score in our ESG rating (which combines four different data providers) and only four companies with an A or B score in our SDG rating. However, in September 2019 a number of major European insurance companies became founding members of the Net Zero Asset Owners Alliance which has a strong focus on engagement. This may assist in boosting sustainable energy investments, which still fall short of the UN Secretary General’s 2016 ambitions as do incorporating metrics relating to the SDGs. >more

MONITORING THE MONITOR: DISTRACTED INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS AND BOARD GOVERNANCE

Claire Liu, Angie Low, Ronald W. Masulis, and Le Zhang
2019
Boards are crucial to shareholder wealth. Yet, little is known about how shareholder oversight affects director incentives. Using exogenous industry shocks to institutional investor portfolios, we find that institutional investor distraction weakens board oversight. Distracted institutions are less likely to discipline ineffective directors. Consequently, independent directors face weaker monitoring incentives and exhibit poor board performance; ineffective independent directors are also more frequently appointed. Moreover, we find that the adverse effects of investor distraction on various corporate governance outcomes are stronger among firms with problematic directors. Our findings suggest that institutional investor monitoring creates important director incentives to monitor. >more

CORPORATE CONTROL AROUND THE WORLD

Gur Aminadav, and Elias Papaioannou
2019
We provide an anatomy of corporate control around the world after tracing controlling shareholders for thousands listed firms from 127 countries between 2004 and 2012. The analysis reveals considerable and persistent differences across and within regions, as well as across legal families. Government and family control is pervasive in civil-law countries. Equity blocks in widely-held corporations are commonplace, but less so in common-law countries. These patterns apply to large, medium, and small listed firms. In contrast, the association between income and corporate control is highly heterogeneous; the correlation is strong among big and especially very large firms, but absent for medium and small listed firms. We then examine the association between corporate control and various institutional features. Shareholder rights against insiders' self-dealing activities correlate strongly with corporate control, though legal formalism and creditor rights less so. >more