Bank Control, Takeovers and Corporate Governance in Germany

This paper examines the three cases of hostile takeovers in Germany in the post Second World War period. It describes the important role played by banks in affecting the outcome of the bids: bank representatives were chairmen of the supervisory board in all three cases and banks voted a large number of proxies in important decisions affecting the bids. The paper reports that low returns were earned by shareholders of two of the target firms and offers an explanation in terms of bank control and the regulatory regime operating in Germany