Shareholder concentration and control in Australia

Varzaly, Jenifer

Abstract

There is ongoing interest in understanding share ownership and control dynamics in publicly listed companies, given the governance and regulatory implications arising therefrom. This article presents a new empirical analysis of shareholder data, focusing on the largest 50 publicly listed companies in Australia, filling a striking gap in the existing literature. Specifically, the following issues are investigated within each company: 1. The level of institutional ownership within the largest 20 registered shareholders; 2. The percentage of issued capital owned by the largest three registered shareholders; 3. The control of that ownership, to determine the extent to which ownership and control diverge; and 4. Substantial shareholding information is collected and analysed, in order to reduce the information gap which exists between ownership and control, and to provide a more complete picture of shareholding patterns. Several explanatory factors behind the identified landscape and the implications arising from the findings are then discussed.

Citation

Varzaly, J. (2023). Shareholder concentration and control in Australia. Journal of Corporate Law Studies, 23(1), 105-152. https://doi.org/10.1080/14735970.2023.2227369

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 13, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jul 14, 2023
• Publication Date: Jul 14, 2023
• Deposit Date: Aug 15, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 15, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Corporate Law Studies
• Print ISSN: 1473-5970
• Electronic ISSN: 1757-8426
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 105-152
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14735970.2023.2227369
• Keywords: Law
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1718175