Expropriation of minority shareholders and payout policy

Amedeo De Cesari

The British Accounting Review, 2012, vol. 44, issue 4, 207-220

Abstract: This paper studies the payout policy of Italian firms controlled by large majority shareholders (controlled firms). The paper reports that a firm's share of dividends in total payout (dividends plus repurchases) is negatively related to the size of the cash flow stake of the firm's controlling shareholder and positively associated with the wedge between the controlling shareholder's control rights and cash flow rights. These findings are consistent with the substitute model of payout. One of the implications of this model is that controlled firms with weak corporate governance set-ups, in which controlling shareholders have strong incentives to expropriate minority shareholders, tend to prefer dividends over repurchases when disgorging cash.

Keywords: Dividend; Repurchase; Controlling shareholder; Minority shareholder; Family firm (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G32 G35 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:bracre:v:44:y:2012:i:4:p:207-220

DOI: 10.1016/j.bar.2012.09.002

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