Marco Claudio Corradi

Project summary

A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the anticompetitive effects of non-controlling financial holdings

The project examines the anticompetitive effects of non-controlling financial holdings in Sweden and the EU. It focuses on both (1) companies’ horizontal and vertical financial holdings and (2) investment funds’ horizontal shareholdings – that is, investments in several companies operating in the same market as part of a portfolio strategy. If a company has invested in a competitor, this may reduce its incentive to engage in price competition. In practice, a company will often weigh the potential benefits of a price war, such as increased market share, against its financial consequences, including a decline in the value of its investment in a competitor. A company may also use its rights as a minority shareholder to exert influence.

 

Horizontal ownership by investment funds may also have anticompetitive effects, particularly when combined with corporate governance strategies that reward performance based on overall market conditions. The project aims to (1) conduct empirical research on minority holdings by companies and investment funds in Sweden and other EU countries; (2) conduct qualitative research on minority shareholders’ rights in Sweden and the EU; and (3) provide an integrated assessment, drawing on competition law, corporate governance and financial market law, of the anticompetitive effects of non-controlling financial holdings in Sweden and the EU, based on both qualitative and quantitative parameters.