Copenhagen Conference on Control Enhancing Mechanisms in Corporate Governance

The Centre for Economic and Business Research, the European Corporate Governance Institute, and the Copenhagen Business School are organising a free all-day conference on 18 September 2007 to take stock of the issues of surrounding control enhancing mechanisms and their economic impact at the European level and in international comparison.

The conference will use the European Commission's recently published study as basis for the discussion.

Background

A variety of control enhancing mechanism are available to firms in Member States, taking the form of, among others, pyramids, multiple voting rights, voting right ceilings, priority (or preference) shares, depositary receipts and non-voting shares.

In its 2003 Action Plan, the European Commission considered that there is a medium to long-term case for doing away with, or at least discouraging, undesirable control arrangements. A study was commissioned to review the existing legal arrangements and practices in force across the EU today. The results of this study were released on 4. June 2007 and are currently being reviewed.

Objective

The aim of this conference is to take stock of the issues of surrounding control enhancing mechanisms and their economic impact at the European level and in international comparison.

The European Commission study will be the basis for discussion bringing contrasting views on the issues from European and national policy makers, academics, industry representatives and investors. The expected outcome will be input to the European Commission’s ongoing impact assessment and proposals and recommendations for further research.

Arranged by:

The Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR), the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) and the Copenhagen Business School (CBS).