http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
effects of pension fund activism on corporate performance
viii, 62 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm.
During the 1980s and continuing through the 1990s, managers
at several large pension funds have attempted to improve the
performance of firms in which they invest. In this
dissertation, I attempt to determine the effectiveness of
their actions by examining targeted firms' accounting and
equity performance around shareholder proposals sponsored by
pension fund managers. Following Barber and Lyon (I 996), 1
find persistent unexpected return on assets in firms with
pension fund sponsored shareholder proposals, however, this
unexpected return on assets is not statistically different
from unexpected return on assets in a matched sample of
control firms without shareholder proposals Using event study
methodology, I find no unexpected returns around the first
public announcement of pension fund activity and around the
proxy mailing date. Using information supplied by a pension
fund, I find positive and significant unexpected returns
around the announcement of an agreement between a pension
fund and a targeted firm. However, this unexpected return is
surprising since I am unable to verify the majority of the
announcement dates for agreements in the Dow Jones News
Service Text database. Additionally, there is no correlation
between unexpected returns around the first public
announcement of activity and unexpected returns around the
announcement of an agreement between pension fund and firm
managers. Finally, regression results suggest that there is
no relation between the variables studied and the level of
unexpected return on assets or unexpected equity returns
around the three dates I examine. The evidence together
provides little support for the belief that pension fund
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Includes bibliographical references: pages 56-59.