ABSTRACT
European Union. The impetus for this development was given by the European Commission’s 1988 Transparency Directive (more formally, Large Holdings Directive, 88/627/EEC). It requires member states to enact laws directing shareholders of companies listed on a member state exchange to notify the relevant authorities and the company itself within seven days whenever their voting rights cross the thresholds of 10%, 20%, 1/3 (or 25%), 50% and 2/3 (or 75%). The directive is quite strict as to the attribution of voting rights. Any voting rights controlled by a person or entity must be included, such as voting rights held indirectly through controlled companies, those obtained through written voting agreements, or those on shares lodged for safekeeping and exercised at discretion in the absence of instructions from the holders. As a result of member state legislation carrying out this directive, data on large shareholders’ voting stakes has become available, starting in the early to mid-1990s, throughout the European Union.
