Title: Ownership structure and minority expropriation in Lebanon

Authors: Nehme Azoury; Elie Bouri

Addresses: USEK Business School, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, POB 446 Jounieh, Lebanon ' USEK Business School, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, POB 446 Jounieh, Lebanon

Abstract: This paper examines minority expropriation issues in the dominant presence of family ownership using longitudinal (hand-collected) data on 270 Lebanese non-financial firms between 2009 and 2012. The analysis reveals that family-related CEOs and the disparity between cash-flow rights and voting rights facilitate expropriation. However, the presence of private equity and banking firms reduces private benefit extraction. By explicitly focusing on the ownership-expropriation nexus and by promoting the development and implementation of a tailored governance code that considers Lebanese specificities, this paper makes a contribution to the growing literature on the role of corporate governance in emerging markets.

Keywords: ownership structure; institutional investors; minority expropriation; family firms; socio-emotional wealth; Lebanon; family businesses; entrepreneurship; cash flow rights; voting rights; private benefit extraction; corporate governance; emerging markets.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBG.2016.078396

International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2016 Vol.17 No.2, pp.149 - 173

Received: 18 Feb 2015
Accepted: 10 Jul 2015

Published online: 16 Aug 2016 *

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