ABSTRACT
THE MARKET FOR CORPORATE CONTROL represents an important governance device. For market-based economies, the disciplinary role of control changes is well documented (see Jensen and Ruback, 1983; Jarrell et al., 1988 for the US, and Franks and Mayer, 1995 for the UK).To a large extent, this market is based on hostile takeovers in both countries. For bank-based economies, the typically low frequency of hostile takeovers suggests that there is no market for corporate control (OECD, 1998). But other forms of control changes may also play a disciplinary role (see Schwert, 2000 who shows that hostile and friendly takeovers in the US are not distinguishable in economic terms). Overall, systematic evidence on the nature of control changes in bank-based countries is sparse.
