Le 14 novembre 2014, le président exécutif du conseil d’administration de l’IGOPP, le professeur Yvan Allaire fut conférencier-principal « keynote speaker » à la rencontre annuelle du Governance Center- Conference Board of New-York dont les membres sont tirés des plus grandes sociétés américaines. La présentation portait sur le thème: Do activist hedge funds create long-term […]

En 2011, Pershing Square Capital Management, fonds de couverture activiste fondé par William Ackman, procédait à l’achat d’actions afin de porter sa participation dans la société Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique Limitée (CP) à 14,2 %. Dans des rencontres subséquentes avec le président du conseil du CP, Ackman exigea que lui et d’autres personnes choisies […]

Les fonds de couverture («hedge funds»), dits activistes, sont présentés, ou se présentent eux-mêmes, comme les défenseurs des actionnaires maltraités par des conseils d’administration complaisants et des dirigeants d’entreprise incompétents ou avides de gain personnel au détriment des actionnaires. Ces fonds sont perçus en certains milieux  comme de nouveaux héros des temps modernes, dotés d’une […]

« In our paper “Activist” hedge funds: creators of lasting wealth? What do the empirical studies really say?” (available here), we asked Lucian Bebchuk, Alon Brav and Wei Jiang questions of the sort that any referee/reviewer for a professional journal would raise about their paper The Long-Term Effects of Hedge Fund Activism. Their paper’s aim is […]

« About a year ago, Professor Lucian Bebchuk took to the pages of the Wall Street Journal to declare that he had conducted a study that he claimed proved that activist hedge funds are good for companies and the economy. Not being statisticians or econometricians, we did not respond by trying to conduct a study proving […]

« Hedge funds have found, in some academic circles, supporters and champions of their enduring contribution to shareholder wealth. Some recent empirical research has triggered an important debate in the American corporate/financial world about the role of board of directors, the rights of shareholders, and the very concept of the business corporation. The terms of the […]

[ … ] La formule est accueillie favorablement, mais jugée restrictive et complexe. De nos jours, les actionnaires détiennent leur placement durant 1,8 année. «Même de grands investisseurs institutionnels ne se qualifieraient pas», dit l’expert Yvan Allaire, qui préfère n’accorder le droit de vote qu’à ceux qui détiennent leurs actions depuis plus d’un an. La […]

« The governance reforms carried out in publicly traded companies since, if not before, the fiascos called Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Global Crossing, et alia have resulted in boards of directors largely staffed with independent, diligent people with solid business experience. Then, why is it that boards, though dutiful and careful, remain surprise-prone and ill-equipped to challenge […]

« In an opinion piece in the Globe and Mail of July 26th, 2013, Mr. Gwyn Morgan, the former chair of the board of SNC-Lavalin gives us his take on what happened there and offers some suggestions to improve corporate governance. The gist of his piece bears on how hard-working and diligent were the chairman and […]

« In a recent commentary in The Globe and Mail, Gwyn Morgan, the former chair of the board of SNC-Lavalin, gives us his take on what happened within the engineering giant and offers some advice to improve corporate governance. The gist of his piece bears on how hard working and diligent the chairman and the board […]