Introduction

The 2007 Dinner Debate focused on proportionality between ownership and control in EU listed companies ahead of an EU research study on the issue, the ICGN. The debate was hosted by TIAA-CREF and Hermes and was held at the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

The debate on proportionality concerns ways in which ownership and control may diverge. Companies may wish to promote long-term stability by tilting voting rights in favour of block-holders whilst the growing use of measures, like stock lending, separate votes from ownership in the short term which can have real impact for companies.

The debate included two leading European institutional investors, Jacob Wallenberg, Chairman of the Board of Investor AB, Sweden and Jean-Pierre Hellebuyck, Vice President Axa, France. Mark Anson, CEO Hermes and ICGN Chairman, chaired the debate. Over dinner, Professor Henry Hu, Allan Shivers Chair in the Law of Banking and Finance, University of Texas Law School and co-author of the groundbreaking paper on “empty votes” and empty votes, hedge funds and their consequences, gave an insight into new research on the separation between ownership and control.