Clifford Holderness, Professor of Finance, Boston College: The Price of a Marginal Vote: What Happens when Stocks go Ex Vote

Time: 2019-03-13 08:00 Print

Topic: The Price of a Marginal Vote: What Happens when Stocks go Ex Vote

Speaker: Clifford Holderness, Professor of Finance, Boston College

Date: March 13 (Wednesday)

Time: 10:00-11:30am

Location: Building 4 Room 102

Language: English

Abstract:

This is the first study to measure the price of a marginal vote by observing stocks as they go from cum vote to ex vote. On average stock prices decline by nine basis points but more with certain types of votes. For instance, stocks drop by 58 basis points when shareholder-initiated proposals are involved. Trading volume changes around the ex day. Management acts strategically when establishing record dates determining who may vote. Stock exchanges sell information to select investors about record dates that appears to impact both stock prices and trading volume.

About the speaker:

Clifford G. Holderness is Professor of Finance at the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. He has research interests in corporate governance and corporate finance and a special research interest on the role of large-block shareholders in public corporations. The topics he has written on include shareholder approval of equity issuances around the world, the pricing of large blocks of stock, the role of large shareholders in public corporations, and the protection of minority shareholders from oppression by large shareholders. He has published in leading scholarly journals, including the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, the Review of Financial Studies, the Journal of Law& Economics, and the Journal of Legal Studies.

Professor Holderness won the Brattle Prize for the best paper in corporate finance published in the Journal of Finance in 1999. Five of his papers have been re-printed in collections of scholarly papers. Another paper was honored by the editors of the Journal of Financial Economics as an All Star Paper because of how often it has been cited by other researchers. Seven of his articles have been lead articles.

Professor Holderness holds a M.Sc. in Economics from the London School of Economics and a J.D. and A.B. in Economics (with Honors and Distinction), both from Stanford University.