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Beneficiary investor monitoring and asset manager engagement

Masumi Sai1; Yasutomo Tsukioka2; Kazuo Yamada3

1 Hitotsubashi University · 2 Kwansei Gakuin University · 3 Kyoto University

Journal of Corporate Finance 2026 open access

This study examines the impact of monitoring activities of beneficial investors toward asset managers. We use data from Japan, where the stewardship code requires beneficial investors, such as pension funds, to monitor the engagement of asset managers. We provide evidence that firms with asset managers who have endorsed the code are less likely to have anti-takeover provisions, especially after the code revision. Additional analyses clarify the causality by including ownership of non-signatory investors, a matching procedure, and an alternative definition of the ownership variable. We also confirm that the engagement also changes other corporate governance measurements of Japanese listed companies. Finally, we demonstrate that removing such provisions can improve operational and stock performance.

DOI
10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102892
Volume
96
Pages
102892
Language
en
Export
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