La tesi ha ad oggetto l’analisi delle fattispecie statutarie di riscatto azionario nella s.p.a. dopo la riforma del 2003. Quest’ultima ha anzitutto introdotto una disciplina destinata genericamente a tutte le ipotesi statutarie in cui si preveda un potere di riscatto a vantaggio della società o di soci (art. 2437-sexies c.c.). L’esegesi di tale disciplina e l’indagine sui possibili utilizzi, in chiave funzionale, delle azioni riscattabili costituiscono il primo obiettivo del lavoro. Per quanto attiene al c.d. riscatto obbligatorio di azioni si è invece assistito alla sola emersione di alcune specifiche ipotesi legali (ad es., art. 2355-bis, comma 2°, c.c.). Si dimostra, tuttavia, che non sussistono ragioni per negare, in linea generale, la possibilità per l’autonomia privata di avvalersi di tale meccanismo di riscatto in ipotesi diverse da quelle espressamente tipizzate. La ricostruzione della disciplina delle fattispecie statutarie atipiche di riscatto obbligatorio e la loro valorizzazione quali peculiari strumenti di disinvestimento dalla società - con caratteristiche non del tutto sovrapponibili al recesso convenzionale - costituiscono il secondo indirizzo d’analisi seguito nello sviluppo della tesi. Nell’affrontare i vari profili trattati, si tiene in attenta considerazione la disciplina comunitaria in tema di riscatto azionario, nonché il dato comparatistico. / The scrutiny of the rules concerning the redemption of shares in the Italian public companies (s.p.a.) after the statutory reform of 2003 is the main focus of the thesis. On the one hand , the reform has introduced a general discipline concerning the provisions of the bylaws that provide a call for redemption of issued shares (art. 2437-sexies c.c.). Under this general aspect the first goal of the work is to analyze both the new general discipline concerning the callable redeemable shares and their functional use. On the other hand, the reform has ruled only a few typical hypothesis of the so called mandatory redemption (for example, art. 2355, par. 2 , c.c.). However, the work points out that there is no reason why to deny private autonomy to use this second form of redemption in cases other than those explicitly ruled. So, the second objective of the thesis is to reconstruct the discipline of the otherwise agreements concerning the matter of the mandatory redemption provisions. The thesis points out that the puttable redeemable shares represent a tool for divestment from public companies with autonomous characteristics in respect to the withdrawal from corporation clauses. To address the various issues considered, are taken into careful consideration both the EU rules concerning share redemption, and the comparative law perspective .

A aquisição por companhias abertas de ações de sua própria emissão no Brasil constitui o núcleo de estudo desta dissertação. Também referida como recompra de ações, trata-se de operação comumente realizada por sociedades anônimas, principalmente por companhias abertas, tendo em vista os possíveis benefícios na organização da estrutura de capital da companhia, conciliados com a variedade de motivações para sua utilização. O trabalho aborda, inicialmente, o tratamento legal conferido às operações realizadas por companhias abertas e fechadas, em especial pela Lei no 6.404, de 15 de dezembro de 1976. Além da definição das operações e sua evolução legislativa, são analisadas as principais causas que levam uma sociedade anônima a adquirir ações de sua própria emissão, assim como os negócios jurídicos passíveis de realização para que uma aquisição se concretize, além do aproveitamento a ser conferido pela companhia para as ações recompradas quando estas não forem canceladas, poderão ser mantidas em tesouraria na qualidade de bens de titularidade da companhia. O estudo também dedica-se à análise específica da aquisição de ações de emissão própria por companhias abertas, sob o foco do regramento expedido pela Comissão de Valores Mobiliários CVM. Além dos atos normativos emanados pela autarquia, a análise enfatiza os principais interesses a serem tutelados nas operações, assim como aborda precedentes da CVM sobre o tema. / The purchase, by publicly-held companies, of its own shares in Brazil constitutes the core area of study of this dissertation. Also referred to as stock repurchase, it consists in a transaction commonly performed by corporations, mainly the publicly traded, seeking out the benefits to the organization of the companys capital structure, combined with the variety of motivations for its use. This work initially discusses the legal treatment for stock repurchases performed by publicly-held and closely held companies, in particular by Law 6404, of December 15th, 1976. In addition to the definition of the transaction, and its legal developments, this study analyzes the main causes for a corporation to buy its own shares, as well as the legal act of the acquisition per se, and the use of the repurchased shares whenever they are not canceled, such shares will be held in treasury as assets owned by the company. The study also presents the repurchase made by publicly-held companies in view of the rules issued by the Comissão de Valores Mobiliários CVM (the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission). Apart from examining CVMs regulation, the study refers to a broad variety of cases decided by CVM on the subject, and investigates the main interests involved on the transactions.

Möjligheten för aktiemarknadsbolag att kunna genomföra riktade nyemissioner av aktier är ett viktigt inslag på marknaden – inte minst för bolagens kapitalanskaffning. Men med möjligheter kommer också, ofta, risker. Så även här. När en riktad nyemission genomförs och huvudregeln om aktieägarnas företrädesrätt därmed frångås, uppkommer en risk för att befintliga aktieägare, åtminstone vissa av dem, missgynnas. Så sker vanligtvis genom att de aktieägare som står utanför nyemissionen upplever en ekonomisk eller inflytandemässig utspädning av sina innehav. I syfte att reglera dessa risker finns det – inom såväl aktiebolags- som aktiemarknadsrätten – vissa begränsningar som aktiemarknadsbolag behöver iaktta vid beslut om riktade nyemissioner av aktier. Syftet med denna uppsats är att utreda, formulera och diskutera dessa påstådda begränsningar. Den första begränsningen består av beslutsreglerna i ABL, det vill säga reglerna som föreskriver de åtgärder som behöver vidtas inför, vid och efter ett emissionsbeslut. Dessa regler återfinns främst i 13 kap. ABL och innefattar bland annat krav på att ett förslag till beslut ska upprättas och på att beslut fattas med kvalificerad majoritet. Likabehandlingsreglerna i ABL, främst generalklausulerna, utgör den andra begränsningen. En prövning mot generalklausulerna innebär att bolaget i fråga inte får genomföra en riktad nyemission som på ett otillbörligt sätt gynnar någon, en aktieägare eller utomstående, på annan aktieägares bekostnad. Otillbörlighetsrekvisitet inbegriper en helhetsbedömning med fokus på de affärsmässiga motiven, bolagets intresse och förekomsten av missbruk. Nyemissioner torde stå i strid med generalklausulerna i undantagsfall, mot bakgrund av att de är tänkta att tillämpas restriktivt. Den tredje begränsningen som – till skillnad från de två tidigare kategorierna – inte är aktiebolagsrättslig, omfattar de ytterligare krav som aktiemarknadsrättens självreglering, främst god sed på aktiemarknaden, ställer. Med ett fåtal undantag tycks dock några sådana ytterligare eller högre krav inte finnas, vilket ger vid handen att aktiebolags- och aktiemarknadsrätten i hög grad är överlappande på området. De rättsliga följderna av att begränsningarna inte iakttas är, beroende på den enskilda situationen, framför allt klander, skadestånd eller ”marknadens dom”. Slutsatsen är att de tre begränsningarna på ett rimligt sätt balanserar majoritetens och bolagets intresse av en effektiv kapitalanskaffning och minoritetens behov av skydd. Undantag gäller eventuellt för de två generalklausulerna, vilkas tillämpningsområden, främst på grund av otillbörlighetsrekvisitet, är förhållandevis otydliga. Det hade därför varit önskvärt att grunderna för den bedömningen konkretiserades i den vägledande rättstillämpningen framöver.

This thesis comprises, firstly, a careful and detailed description of the institutional workings of the Chinese stock market; secondly, a literature review of the Chinese segmented markets and dual-listed shares price premium; and thirdly, three evidence-based contributions designed to cast new light on the Chinese A-shares premium puzzle. Publicly-listed firms in China, under certain criteria, can issue two different types of shares, namely A-shares and B-shares, to local and foreign investors respectively. These shares carry the same rights and obligations, but are however priced differently due to market segmentation. After a review of the literature on determinants of the premium, the first contribution offers a complementary explanation. I propose that the premium reflects the difference in valuation preferences between the local and foreign investors, i.e., local investors pay more attention to stock liquidity, while foreign investors pay more attention to firm’s intrinsic value, and so firms having more favorable fundamentals tend to have lower premia. The second contribution involves the examination of a controversial question that which investor group is better informed about local assets, by testing the direction of information flows between the A- and B-shares markets. Both time series methods, and panel data techniques which are used for the first time in this context, are employed, in order to get a distinct and more insightful picture against the current literature. The third contribution compares and contrasts institutional settings of China, Singapore and Thailand which have similar market segmentation and dual-listing systems; examines whether or not the premia in the three countries are caused by same factors; and tries to answer why foreign investors in China pay less, rather than more, as commonly observed in other segmented markets, for identical assets. It provides the first cross-country comparison evidence after 1999 with updated data.

Le rôle du changement d’associé dans les sociétés de capitaux a gagné en importance ces dernières années et est ainsi devenu l’un des aspects essentiels du droit des sociétés. Tant en droit allemand qu’en droit français, une cession de droits sociaux peut présenter un certain nombre de difficultés juridiques. La thèse est destinée à apporter, à travers une analyse juridique comparative, une vue globale des possibilités de changement d’associé dans une société au regard des conditions à respecter ainsi que des procédures à suivre en cas de cessions de droits sociaux. L’ensemble des aspects est étudié en tenant compte des différences majeures existant entre le droit allemand et le droit français en la matière, de leurs origines et leurs causes ainsi que des avantages et inconvénients en résultant pour les associés dans chacun des deux systèmes juridiques, afin d’aboutir à une analyse comparative critique. / The role of shareholders changes in joint-stock companies has grown in importance in recent years and has thus become an essential aspect of company law. Both in German and French law, a sale of shares agreement may require solving a substantial number of legal difficulties. Through a comparative law analysis, the thesis aims to provide a global vision of the possibilities of changes to the shareholder structure regarding conditions to be met as well as procedures to be followed in cases of sales of shares. All aspects are examined taking into account the major differences existing between German and French law in this field, from their origins and causes as well as the resulting advantages and drawbacks for shareholders within each of the studied legal systems in order to lead to a comparative and critical analysis.

We investigate if the size of goodwill compared to total assets has any effect on the shareholders return on companies listed on the Swedish Stock market. We put up two different hypotheses with a foundation from previous research and later dismiss one of them. Our evidence does not show any indicators that the size of goodwill have an effect on the shareholders return, which brings us to believe that there, from a share holders point of view, isn’t any need for concern regarding the standards about accounting for goodwill as stated by IFRS.

Kommersiella fastigheter har blivit allt viktigare inom svensk ekonomi. Fastighetssektorn har haft en särskilt hög tillväxt under de senaste åren där fastigheter kan anses vara en kapitalkrävande reell tillgång. Finansieringen av fastighetsbolag har traditionellt utgjorts av banklån men på senare tid söker fastighetsbolag alternativa finansieringsmetoder. Allt vanligare blir det att finna finansiering genom kapitalmarknaden. I regel är en av de största kostnaderna för ett fastighetsbolag dess finansieringskostnader. Således är det av vikt att bearbeta kapitalstrukturen för att använda den mest rationella givet bolagets förutsättningar, där ett sätt kan vara att i större utsträckning använda sig av eget kapital i balansräkningen. Vid första emissioner av preferensaktier i Sverige användes de av fastighetsbolagen ett sätt att inhämta eget kapital. De erbjöd investerarna en förutsägbar hög direktavkastning, samtidigt var utdelningen prioriterad framför andra aktieslag, dock utformade med en inlösenkurs. Efter ett antal år kom en första emission av D-aktier vilka populariserades bland fastighetsbolag. Dessa liknade preferensaktier med en löpande hög direktavkastning, dock utan prioritet. På senare tid har många preferensaktier kommit att lösas in av större fastighetsbolag. Samtidigt har många bolag kreditbetyget investment grade av ratinginstituten. Denna uppsats syftar till att reda ut vilken funktion preferensaktier har fyllt i form av källa till eget kapital och varför D-aktier delvis använts i form av ett substitut till preferensaktier. Undersökningen baserades på intervjuer med ett antal personer med erfarenhet och olika perspektiv av den kommersiella fastighetsmarknaden. Det framgår att emittering av preferensaktier kan vara rationellt för fastighetsbolag med höga tillväxtmål. Preferensaktier har historiskt varit en förmånlig källa till eget kapital vilket varit effektiv då det haft en låg utspädningseffekt relativt stamaktier. Preferensaktier blev dyra att behålla utestående för fastighetsbolag vilka sökte en investment grade-rating då dessa behövde förhålla sig till ratingbolagens syn på preferensaktier. Till följd av detta har D-aktier men även hybridobligationer används i form av ett substitut till preferensaktier. / Commercial properties have become increasingly important in the Swedish economy. The real estate sector has had a particularly high growth in recent years where real estate is considered a capitalintensive real asset class. Bank lending has traditionally been the method of financing real estate companies. As of recent years, the real estate companies seek to find alternative methods of financing, where it is becoming more common to finance through the capital markets. Generally, the biggest cost of a real estate company is its cost of finance. Therefore, it is important to process the capital structure to find the most rational one given the circumstances, where the use of equity found in the balance sheet can be an alternative. With the first issues of preferred shares in Sweden, the shares were used to obtain equity. The preferred shares offered the investors a high and predictable yield that was prioritized over the common shares, though designed as retractable at a specific price. Subsequently, the first dividend shares were issued, and the dividend share was popularized with real estate companies. The dividend share is similar to the preferred shares with a continuous high yield but without the priority. In recent years, many preferred shares have been retracted by the larger real estate companies. In the meantime, the demand for credit ratings has increased, with the goal of obtaining an investment grade rating by the rating agencies. This thesis aims to study what function the preferred shares have had as a source of equity and why dividend shares have partly been used as a substitute to preferred shares. The inquiry was based on interviews with persons of experience from the commercial real estate market that could offer different perspectives of the manner. What can be derived is that the issue of preferred shares can be rational for real estate companies with high set growth targets. Historically, preferred shares have been a competitive source of equity that has been effective due to its low dilution compared to common shares. Preferred shares became expensive to keep outstanding for the real estate companies that wanted the investment grade rating. This since the companies needed to operate in a way that the rating agencies favored regarding the preferred shares. As a result of this, dividend shares as well as hybrid bonds have been used as a substitute for preferred shares.

nÃo hà / Este trabalho almeja avaliar se o desempenho das aÃÃes das empresas de alimento pode ser explicado pelos comportamentos das variÃveis macroeconÃmicas como PIB, taxa de juros Selic, taxa de cÃmbio, balanÃa comercial, taxa de desemprego, Ãndice de preÃo e Ãndice de confianÃa do consumidor. Utilizando os testes de Johansen para o perÃodo de 2004 a 2014 os resultados permitem inferir que a variÃvel PIB e balanÃa comercial, representada pela taxa de cobertura possuem cointegraÃÃes significativas nos comportamentos dos preÃos das aÃÃes e que algumas aÃÃes como a da empresa Minerva possuem fortes co-integraÃÃes com todas as variÃveis estudadas, conclui-se entÃo que as variÃveis macroeconÃmicas tÃm importÃncia significativa no desempenho das aÃÃes. / Este trabalho almeja avaliar se o desempenho das aÃÃes das empresas de alimento pode ser explicado pelos comportamentos das variÃveis macroeconÃmicas como PIB, taxa de juros Selic, taxa de cÃmbio, balanÃa comercial, taxa de desemprego, Ãndice de preÃo e Ãndice de confianÃa do consumidor. Utilizando os testes de Johansen para o perÃodo de 2004 a 2014 os resultados permitem inferir que a variÃvel PIB e balanÃa comercial, representada pela taxa de cobertura possuem cointegraÃÃes significativas nos comportamentos dos preÃos das aÃÃes e que algumas aÃÃes como a da empresa Minerva possuem fortes co-integraÃÃes com todas as variÃveis estudadas, conclui-se entÃo que as variÃveis macroeconÃmicas tÃm importÃncia significativa no desempenho das aÃÃes. / This work aims evaluates the performance of the shares of food companies can be explained by the behavior of macroeconomic variables such as GDP, Selic interest rate, exchange rate, trade balance, unemployment, price index and confidence index consumer. Using Johansen tests for the period 2004-2014 the results allow us to infer that the variable GDP and trade balance, represented by the coverage rate have significant cointegration the behavior of share prices and that some actions such as the Minerva company has strong cointegration with all variables, it follows then that macroeconomic variables have a significant influence on share performance. / This work aims evaluates the performance of the shares of food companies can be explained by the behavior of macroeconomic variables such as GDP, Selic interest rate, exchange rate, trade balance, unemployment, price index and confidence index consumer. Using Johansen tests for the period 2004-2014 the results allow us to infer that the variable GDP and trade balance, represented by the coverage rate have significant cointegration the behavior of share prices and that some actions such as the Minerva company has strong cointegration with all variables, it follows then that macroeconomic variables have a significant influence on share performance.

This thesis is concerned with two main questions. Do systemic banking crises substantially affect the income distribution in a country? Is income inequality a destabilising factor for the macro-economy? In order to answer the first question, this thesis examines a panel of 26 countries since 1900 and assembles a new database of crises, finding that the impact of major banking crises on the national income shares detained by the income groups within the richest decile is mostly small in magnitude. Indeed, the estimated impact is never bigger than a standard deviation of the specific top shares under investigation. Results are also confirmed in a separate analysis for the United States and are robust to a series of checks. These findings lend indirect support to the structuralist hypothesis that only substantial changes in government policies and institutional frameworks can bring about radical changes in income distribution. The analysis also highlights interesting heterogeneity across different income groups, country groups and time periods. The second question is addressed by making use of a newly assembled database on different dimensions of economic inequality. The new data helps to reject the statistical validity of the hypotheses that either growing inequality or a high level of inequality may systematically precede the onset of major banking crises. In addition, simulations based on the UK Family Expenditure Survey data find that even a full equalisation of income would increase the aggregate consumption by 3 percentage points at most. These findings, taken together, point out that an increase in income inequality may not concur to reduce the pressure on aggregate demand or be adduced as a structural factor of financial instability. Nonetheless, the evidence is not yet clear cut as the work further documents that periods of increasing income inequality in the UK were also associated with a reduction of the saving rates across the whole income distribution since 1968. The analysis contends that such evidence of under-saving behaviour may be consistent with the relative income hypothesis and some of its recent formulations such as the ’expenditure cascades’ theory.

The international marketing literature has a common assumption that consumers across countries are becoming more similar in their consumption behavior over time. However, this assumption of global convergence of consumer spending has not been empirically tested in the literature. In this dissertation, we examine the convergence hypothesis across a heterogeneous set of countries and multiple product categories. In the first essay, we develop a conceptual framework of convergence of consumer spending behavior. In the second essay, we empirically test whether convergence is observed across markets and product categories over time. Finally, in the third essay, we investigate the effect of global convergence of consumer spending on market concentration and firms’ market shares. Using the four-firm concentration ratio, we compute the market concentration by industry in each market to investigate the effect of convergence on market concentration. We also examine the effect of convergence on market shares of individual firms, considering the moderating effects of country of origin, country of operation, and the degree of internationalization of the firm. We model the dependent variables, market concentration and market shares, using the fractional logit model. Our results show that there is an overall convergence trend across product categories and countries over time. Moreover, we find that convergence increases the market shares of the largest firms in a market. The findings of this study have theoretical and managerial implications on major marketing areas including global marketing strategy, internationalization, and market segmentation.