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Journal of Financial Economics Vol. 33 No. 3 1993

Private benefits from block ownership and discounts on closed-end funds

Michael J. Barclay1; Clifford G. Holderness2; Jeffrey Pontiff3

1 University of Rochester · 2 Boston College · 3 University of Washington

Abstract

The greater the managerial stock ownership in closed-end funds, the larger are the discounts to net asset value. The average discount for funds with blockholders is 14%, whereas the average discount for funds without blockholders is only 4%. This relation is robust over time and to various model specifications that control for other factors that affect discounts. We argue that blockholders receive private benefits that do not accrue to other shareholders and that they veto open-ending proposals to preserve these benefits. We support this argument by documenting a range of potential private benefits received by blockholders in closed-end funds.

DOI
10.1016/0304-405x(93)90008-y
Volume
33
Issue
3
Pages
263-291
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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