Corporate Governance and Responsible Investment in Private Equity PDF Download

Author: Simon Witney
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108627668
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 241

View

Book Description
Private equity-backed companies are ubiquitous and economically significant. Consequently, the corporate governance of these companies matters to all of us, and – not surprisingly – is coming under increasing scrutiny. Simon Witney, a practicing private equity lawyer, positions private equity portfolio companies within existing academic theory and examines the laws that apply to them in the UK. He analyses the actual governance frameworks that are put in place and identifies problems created by the legal rules – as well as the market's solutions to them. This book not only explains why these governance mechanisms are established, but also what they are expected to achieve. Witney suggests that private equity owners have both the incentives and the capability to focus on responsible investment practices. Good governance, he argues, is a critical success factor for the private equity industry.

Author: Pedro Matos
Publisher: CFA Institute Research Foundation
ISBN: 1944960988
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 80

View

Book Description
This survey examines the vibrant academic literature on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing. While there is no consensus on the exact list of ESG issues, responsible investors increasingly assess stocks in their portfolios based on nonfinancial data on environmental impact (e.g., carbon emissions), social impact (e.g., employee satisfaction), and governance attributes (e.g., board structure). The objective is to reduce exposure to investments that pose greater ESG risks or to influence companies to become more sustainable. One active area of research at present involves assessing portfolio risk exposure to climate change. This literature review focuses on institutional investors, which have grown in importance such that they have now become the largest holders of shares in public companies globally. Historically, institutional investors tended to concentrate their ESG efforts mostly on corporate governance (the “G” in ESG). These efforts included seeking to eliminate provisions that restrict shareholder rights and enhance managerial power, such as staggered boards, supermajority rules, golden parachutes, and poison pills. Highlights from this section: · There is no consensus on the exact list of ESG issues and their materiality. · The ESG issue that gets the most attention from institutional investors is climate change, in particular their portfolio companies’ exposure to carbon risk and “stranded assets.” · Investors should be positioning themselves for increased regulation, with the regulatory agenda being more ambitious in the European Union than in the United States. Readers might come away from this survey skeptical about the potential for ESG investing to affect positive change. I prefer to characterize the current state of the literature as having a “healthy dose of skepticism,” with much more remaining to be explored. Here, I hope the reader comes away with a call to action. For the industry practitioner, I believe that the investment industry should strive to achieve positive societal goals. CFA Institute provides an exemplary case in its Future of Finance series (www.cfainstitute.org/research/future-finance). For the academic community, I suggest we ramp up research aimed at tackling some of the open questions around the pressing societal goals of ESG investing. I am optimistic that practitioners and academics will identify meaningful ways to better harness the power of global financial markets for addressing the pressing ESG issues facing our society.

Author: Tessa Hebb
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136249745
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 764

View

Book Description
The UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment initiative has led to around a third of the world’s financial assets being managed with a commitment to invest in a way that considers environmental, social or governance (ESG) criteria. The responsible investment trend has increased dramatically since the global financial crisis, yet understanding of this field remains at an early stage. This handbook provides an atlas of current practice in the field of responsible investment. With a large global team of expert contributors, the book explores the impact of responsible investment on key financial actors ranging from mainstream asset managers to religious organizations. Offering students and researchers a comprehensive introduction to current scholarship and international structures in the expanding discipline of responsible investment, this handbook is vital reading across the fields of finance, economics and accounting.

Author: Justin O'Brien
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 1908979135
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 424

View

Book Description
Global capital markets are in a state of flux. Castigated in the past as “Barbarians at the Gate”, private equity providers are once again proclaiming the end of the public corporation. This important book addresses the implications of private equity for the governance of corporations, the capital markets in which they operate and the professionals who provide corporate advisory services. The book evaluates and ranks the precise nature of the risk posed by private equity by situating it within an overarching analysis of the dynamics of financial capitalism. Key issues addressed include: the management of conflicts of interest, fiduciary duties, the role of enforcement, the efficacy of adopting a rules- or principles-based system of regulation, the form and function of compliance, and a detailed examination of how to embed accountability into an integrity system for the financial markets. The book therefore has enormous benefit for industry, regulatory and academic communities alike. Contents:Introduction: The Dynamics of Capital Market Governance (J O'Brien)The Conceptual Underpinnings of Australian Securities Regulation (M Rodgers)Evolving ‘Rules of the Game’ in Corporate Governance Reform (J Hill)Overlapping Fields and Constructed Legalities: The Endogeneity of Law (L B Edelman)The Significance of Relative Autonomy in How Regulation of the Financial Services Sector Evolves (G Gilligan)ASIC v Citigroup: Investment Banks, Conflicts of Interest, and Chinese Walls (P F Hanrahan)Enforcement of Capital Markets Regulation: The United Kingdom and Its International Markets (I MacNeil)Why Auditors Don't Find Fraud (N M Hodson)Compliance, Ethics and Responsibility: Emergent Governance Strategies in the US and UK (D McBarnet)Professional Norms (D Cocking)Sarbanes-Oxley and the Search for Accountable Corporate Governance (M J Dubnick)Charting an Icarian Flightpath: The Implications of the Qantas Deal Collapse (J O'Brien)Institutions, Integrity Systems and Market Actors (S Miller) Readership: Postgraduate law and business students; also suitable for general informed market (e.g. investment bankers, compliance professionals, providers of corporate advisory services including lawyers, tax advisors and auditors). Keywords:Private Equity;Conflicts of Interest;Financial Regulation;Enforcement;Investment Banks;Fiduciary DutiesKey Features:Presents an integrated series of recommendations on how compliance (and wider regulatory) frameworks should be recalibrated in order to take into account the unique challenges posed by both private equity and demands to reduce regulatory burden to stem its growthBased on empirical research in three major capital market jurisdictionsContributors include some of the most influential corporate and securities lawyers, ethicists, regulatory specialists, socio-legal scholars, practitioners and policymakers

Author: Roger M. Barker
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 178471352X
Category : Commercial law
Languages : en
Pages : 318

View

Book Description
Shareholder engagement with publicly listed companies is often seen as a key means to monitor corporate malpractices. In this book, the authors examine the corporate governance roles of key institutional investors in UK corporate equity, including pension funds, insurance companies, collective investment funds, hedge and private equity funds and sovereign wealth funds. They argue that institutions’ corporate governance roles are an instrument ultimately shaped by private interests and market forces, as well as law and regulatory obligations, and that policy-makers should not readily make assumptions regarding their effectiveness, or their alignment with public interest or social good.

Author: Roderick Martin
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191607053
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 238

View

Book Description
The growth of shareholder value has been a major change in Western economies since the 1980s. This growth has reignited debates concerning relations between investors and managers. This book argues that investors are more than passive providers of finance, on whose behalf managers seek to maximize shareholder returns. Instead, many investors directly influence management practice, through investor engagement. The book examines the role of institutional investors and private equity firms, two types of investors with overlapping but different reasons for engagement. Questions addressed include: What are the incentives, and disincentives, for investment engagement? How is investor engagement organized? What areas of management practice are of particular concern to investors? The discussion shows in detail how private equity firms play a major role in developing new companies, beyond the provision of finance, especially in the IT, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical sectors. The discussion is primarily based on British and US research. The debate has wider international relevance, because there are strong pressures for establishing shareholder value as the international 'norm' for systems of corporate governance. Following a detailed discussion of Germany, the authors conclude that there is no inevitable trend to shareholder value: shareholder value depends upon complementary institutional arrangements in national business systems, which are far from universal. The book concludes with a critical analysis of the justifications for shareholder value and investor engagement, highlighting the weaknesses of both efficiency and equity justifications.

Author: Harry Cendrowski
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118045254
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 454

View

Book Description
Praise for Private Equity "Private Equity: History, Governance, and Operations is an invaluable guide to understanding the world of private equity investing. Harry Cendrowski and his colleagues have drawn on their extensive experience and expertise to produce a book that is remarkably comprehensive and authoritative." —Robert Larson, Chairman, Lazard Real Estate Partners LLC and Larson Realty Group Managing Director, Lazard Alternative Investments "Private Equity: History, Governance, and Operations is an essential text for any business/finance professional's library. Applicable to both seasoned private equity gurus and students of the industry, its in-depth analysis of 'Best Practices' is well researched and clearly written." —William Campbell, Managing Director, W.Y. Campbell & Company "This is an interesting and very well-written book. It not only clearly describes the history and techniques of private equity investing, it also provides a thorough examination of the rarely appreciated relationships among internal control design and operation, corporate governance and sound investment decision-making and management. It is an important contribution to the literature of finance." —Barry Epstein, PhD, CPA, Partner, Russell Novak & Company, LLP, and author of Wiley GAAP 2008, The Handbook of Accounting and Auditing, and Wiley IFRS 2008 "Harry Cendrowski really hits a homerun with his newest book about the private equity (PE) industry. A definitive, authoritative text on the subject, it answered all my questions, plus some, and gave me a complete frame of reference where I now feel well informed on PE. I would recommend this book to anyone connected to the PE industry, business advisors, academics, and business owners." —Parnell Black, MBA, CPA, CVA, Chief Executive Officer, National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts (NACVA) "The timing could not be better to learn more about the current best practices and governance in the world of private equity. What was once an exclusive asset class reserved for the largest, most sophisticated investors has now become a mainstream alternative investment option for investors of all sizes. Still, many investors do not fully understand how the business works. Private Equity: History, Governance, and Operations endows its readers with an A-to-Z education on this emerging asset class, irrespective of their previous experiences." —Maribeth S. Rahe, President and Chief Executive Officer, Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Inc. & Fort Washington Capital Partners "As a private equity practitioner in the financial services space, I found this book to be a comprehensive-and comprehendible-resource covering all relevant aspects of the business of private equity. This book provides valuable 'how-to's' for improving the likelihood of having successful portfolio companies, with successful exits. Furthermore, both veteran and prospective PE investors now have a resource available to help them screen PE opportunities that best fit with their risk and return objectives." —Scott B. McCallum, Principal, Resource Financial Institutions Group, Inc. "For years, private equity has been a misunderstood asset class. Harry Cendrowski's book defines private equity in clear, concise terms. Anyone in the financial world will benefit from the insights, guidelines, and experiences detailed in Private Equity: History, Governance, and Operations." —Bob Clone, Senior Portfolio Manager, Alternative Investments Division, Michigan Department of Treasury

Author: James P. Hawley
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812204646
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 351

View

Book Description
Corporate governance, the internal policies and leadership that guide the actions of corporations, played a major part in the recent global financial crisis. While much blame has been targeted at compensation arrangements that rewarded extreme risk-taking but did not punish failure, the performance of large, supposedly sophisticated institutional investors in this crisis has gone for the most part unexamined. Shareholding organizations, such as pension funds and mutual funds, hold considerable sway over the financial industry from Wall Street to the City of London. Corporate Governance Failures: The Role of Institutional Investors in the Global Financial Crisis exposes the misdeeds and lapses of these institutional investors leading up to the recent economic meltdown. In this collection of original essays, edited by pioneers in the field of fiduciary capitalism, top legal and financial practitioners and researchers discuss detrimental actions and inaction of institutional investors. Corporate Governance Failures reveals how these organizations exposed themselves and their clientele to extremely complex financial instruments, such as credit default swaps, through investments in hedge and private equity funds as well as more traditional equity investments in large financial institutions. The book's contributors critique fund executives for tolerating the "pursuit of alpha" culture that led managers to pursue risky financial strategies in hopes of outperforming the market. The volume also points out how and why institutional investors failed to effectively monitor such volatile investments, ignoring relatively well-established corporate governance principles and best practices. Along with detailed investigations of institutional investor missteps, Corporate Governance Failures offers nuanced and realistic proposals to mitigate future financial pitfalls. This volume provides fresh perspectives on ways institutional investors can best act as gatekeepers and promote responsible investment.

Author: Hung-Gay Fung
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1849805237
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 191

View

Book Description
The authors have done an excellent job explaining the development and practice of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI). Under the recent recognition of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Asia and its strong emphasis by US and European corporations, this book provides important guidance to students and professionals who are interested in the effects and implications of SRI. This book is truly informative and should be on the reading list of all fund managers and CFOs of international corporations which are serious about CSR. Louis T.W. Cheng, Hong Kong Polytechnic University Individual investors and corporate heads have the responsibility to keep abreast of major changes in the marketplace. Socially responsible investment is one of those changes. Fung, Law and Yau provide, in a single source, a great opportunity to get up to date on an area that will be a force for years to come. I encourage any thoughtful investor or manager to read this book. Thomas Schneeweis, University of Massachusetts Amherst, US Socially responsible investment (SRI) is becoming increasingly popular and can be potentially rewarding to all parties concerned. This book discusses the opportunities, challenges, and practices of SRI in a global financial environment in a consistent and integrated framework of risk management. It also covers a wide variety of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) issues related to various participants, such as values-based retail, institutional investors, corporations, banks, supranational agencies, and non-governmental organizations. Readers are provided with the perspectives of SRI from various players in the financial community from values-based investors to fiduciaries to supranational agencies. The authors analyse the incorporation of ESG issues into investment practices within a regulatory, legal, reputational, and operational risk management framework. Academics, corporate executives, government regulators and policymakers, bankers, and non-governmental organizations involved with sustainable development will find much of interest in this book.

Author: Lucas Eisenhuth
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 396355357X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 76

View

Book Description
Master's Thesis from the year 2023 in the subject Economics - Finance, grade: 1,0, University of Frankfurt (Main), language: English, abstract: This study investigates the impact of environmental, social, and governance integration on private equity fund performance, as measured by the UN Principles of Responsible Investment signatory status of the general partner. Using a comprehensive dataset of 3,127 private equity funds from the Preqin database and ESG information from the UN Principles of Responsible Investment directory, I find that funds managed by fund managers who signed the UN Principles of Responsible Investment exhibit a negative association with financial performance. Since the 1980s, the private equity (PE) asset class has developed from an alternative investment niche into a major player in the global financial industry. With assets under management (AuM) growth rates that far outstrip most other asset classes, PE plays an increasingly important role. For example, authors from the Harvard Busi-ness Review expect global PE assets to exceed $11tn in 2026 and state that, already today, around 10,000 PE firms are responsible for 20mn employees in approximately 40,000 portfolio companies. Simultaneously, integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria into investment decisions has gained considerable momentum in recent years. Driven by growing awareness of climate change, social ine-qualities, and corporate governance issues, investors increasingly recognize the im-portance of incorporating non-financial factors into their investment analysis and portfo-lio selection. Speaking in numbers, at the beginning of 2020, the total value of sustainable investments across major asset classes in developed markets rose to $35.3tn, representing a growth of 15% between 2018 and 2020. This results in 35.9% of total AuM during this period. The social relevance of the climate challenge and the associated increasing investment in the sustainable transformation of the global economy has thus logically found its way into the academic world. For example, annual academic publications on environmental finance have grown more than 17-fold, from 13 in 2010 to 223 in 2019. Nevertheless, less than 1% of academic litera-ture on PE or venture capital (VC) between 1960 and 2020 deals with sustainability issues.