La Commission Robillard aboutit à des recommandations « radicales » sur la gestion de la SAQ et son « monopole » sur la base d’analyses d’une incroyable légèreté. « La commission, écrit-on, a procédé à une analyse de l’efficience du modèle retenu au Québec, par rapport au modèle présent dans les autres juridictions canadiennes et […]

« In Canadian business law, directors have a duty to act in the best interest of the corporation, which includes the duty to assess, fairly and equitably, the impact of the corporation’s actions and decisions on its stakeholders. But which of the stakeholders’ expectations should be taken into account? How should a board arbitrate between […]

[…] M. Card a tenu à rappeler que d’autres pays, dont les États-Unis et le Royaume-Uni, ont une approche différente dans les affaires de corruption. «Les partenaires économiques du Canada concluent des accords assortis de conditions [avec les entreprises fautives], ce qui permet aux gouvernements d’obtenir ce qu’ils recherchent, c’est-à-dire d’envoyer le bon message tout en […]

« But it’s no joke to Yvan Allaire, Executive Chair at the Institute of Governance, who believes The Economist is running infomercials for activist hedge funds: On a topic requiring sober, balanced coverage, The Economist cuts logical corners, tramples contrary evidence, ignores a vast store of scholarship, and conjures up an empirical “study” to produce […]

« With its knack for tackling big subjects in a one-sided manner, The Economist in its February 7th issue imagines a dystopian world where corporate managers and boards of directors are generally incompetent, most investors are lazy; but “activists are a force for good”, “capitalism’s unlikely heroes” and “the saviours of public companies”! Even for a […]

Tous le Québécois ont été scandalisés, choqués, par les témoignages devant la Commission Charbonneau révélant un système de collusion et de corruption dans l’industrie du génie conseil et de la construction au Québec. Bien sûr que par la durée de ses travaux, l’éventail des sujets traités et le nombre de témoins appelés à témoigner, la […]

If you guessed Hedge Funds, take your seat at the head of the class.  And, do the hedge fund and private equity firms deliver on Shareholder Value?  Not quite: “…the most generous conclusion one may reach from these empirical studies has to be that “activist” hedge funds create some short-term wealth for some shareholders as […]

« In case you missed it last weekend, Donna Dabney, Executive Director of the Governance Center at The Conference Board posted this November 14th presentation by  Dr. Yvan Allaire presented at the Annual Meeting of The Conference Board Governance Center. His talk was titled Do activist interventions create long term shareholder value? Allaire reviews a lot of studies and […]

« A group of economists, among whom the French economist Thomas Piketty, produced a massive amount of data and statistics documenting the level and rise of economic inequality over long periods of time and across several countries. Making use of this information, Piketty wrote a book, which became the darling of the American, even global, […]

Sans aller jusqu’à sabler le champagne, les membres du conseil d’administration du Conservatoire de musique et d’art dramatique devaient se féliciter en voyant la ministre de la Culture et des Communications s’approprier la cause du réseau des sept conservatoires en région. Il aura suffi de la fuite mystérieuse (?) d’un scénario apocalyptique (que personne n’a […]

« Stay different, and don’t ape the corporate governance structures of the private sector. That in outline was the message to co-ops from Professor Yvan Allaire, the executive chair of Canada’s Institute for Governance to delegates at the co-op summit taking place in Quebec this week. Yvan Allaire talked of what he called a “deep governance […]

Au moment de l’annonce de son engagement en politique active, le statut de M. Pierre-Karl Péladeau, à titre d’actionnaire de contrôle de Québecor, a soulevé de légitimes inquiétudes. Dans l’éventualité où M. Péladeau assumerait un rôle exécutif au gouvernement, plusieurs se sont inquiétés des conséquences de cette situation pour la liberté de presse au Québec. […]

« 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 […]

 » La Cour suprême le confirme sans cesse : la responsabilité des conseils d’administration de sociétés canadiennes ne se limite pas à la valorisation de l’avoir des actionnaires. Si la jurisprudence reconnaît la diversité des parties intéressées, les recours potentiels demeurent toutefois encore limités. Une interprétation de la Cour suprême dans deux cas récents vient confirmer […]

« 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 […]