Widely held and controlled companies differ considerably in the governance problems their investors face. In widely held firms, the concern is about opportunism by managers, who exercise de facto control in controlled firms, the concern is about opportunism by the controlling shareholder at the expense of minority shareholders.

This relatively high percentage required for control implies that many SINTNCs may be considered as local controlled even if some 20 49 of their shares are owned by a single foreign investor.

These arrangements are, indeed, important for investors in widely held firms. When a company has a controlling shareholder, however, control contests are not possible, and the arrangements governing such contests are thus irrelevant.

In 1996, foreign controlled companies accounted for 46 per cent of Singapore's OFDI and, in 2002, the ratio decreased to 39 per cent.

2.1 The authors were the owners of a limited company, SARL Deperraz Electricité, and of a property investment partnership, SCI Le Praley.

The authors present a broad, detailed, and fair assessment of private equity the business of investing in established companies through debt financed purchases of controlling stakes. (By contrast, venture capitalists support start ups almost entirely through equity.)

Because the basic governance problems in the two types of firms are considerably different, arrangements that benefit investors in widely held firms might be irrelevant or even counterproductive in controlled firms, and vice versa. As a result, applying a single standard for assessing investor protection worldwide is bound to miss the mark with respect to widely held firms, controlled firms, or both.

Article 33 Joint stock insurance companies, joint stock insurance holding (group) companies, exclusively foreign funded insurance companies and Sino foreign joint venture insurance companies shall be subject to the present Guidelines, while exclusively state owned insurance companies, branches of foreign insurance companies and insurance assets management companies shall be under the present Guidelines by analogy.

AI Rokid recently completed a round of funding, led by Temasek. Other investors included Credit Suisse, CDIB (the investment arm of China Development Financial Holdings Co., Ltd.), and existing shareholder IDG Capital.

To improve corporate governance and investor protection, public officials and investors in countries whose capital markets are dominated by controlled companies should be wary of global governance standards developed for US companies. They should focus on the special problems of controlled companies and on the rules that would work best for protecting smaller investors in such companies.

The sector's share of OFDI consistently increased in 1990 2003.

Some, like Singapore s Government Investment Corporation, prefer passive and diversified investments with no controlling stake in companies. And China, when it took a 10 stake in the US private equity group Blackstone, eschewed any voting rights in the company s management, perhaps as a way of keeping US financial regulators happy.

Where the dealing party has reached an agreement or consensus with the controlling shareholder of the listed company on the assignment of the equity of the listed company or on the recommending of directors to the listed company, which may result in the change of the actual controlling right of the listed company, the controlling shareholders of the listed company and their affiliates shall withdraw from voting.

Investors and public officials in countries where controlled companies dominate should stop using global governance standards based on the designers experience with widely held firms in the US. Rather, they should strive to develop standards appropriate for controlled firms.

Article 11 If the purchase or sales of assets by a listed company or the company it controls or controlled by it meets one of the following standards, a material assets reorganization is constituted

Small capitalization equity investments require frequent visits to companies for purposes of research as less information is provided by investment advisers and brokerage houses on these types of investments.

Although Executive Outcomes was registered in Pretoria, its holding company, Strategic Resources Corporation (SRC), was also registered in London.

(3) Enterprises controlled or actually controlled by a securities firm

Where's the provision determining the ratio of investment to controlling interest?

1 The specified parties are the controlling shareholders, the actual controllers of the listed company or the affiliates controlled by the listed company

2 Actually control 5 equity or more of the securities firm by holding equity of the shareholders of the securities firm or by any other means.

Sometimes, the shareholders of the project company may also include independent equity investors not otherwise engaged in the project (usually institutional investors, investment banks, bilateral or multilateral lending institutions, sometimes also the host Government or a State owned corporation).

This is the case of Executive Outcomes and its holding company, Strategic Resources Corporation, which is working in several countries with a profile similar to that described earlier.

(2) Shareholders and actual controllers of a securities firm

The negative growth was also attributed to repayments of intra company loans by foreign subsidiaries and or reduction in the equity of foreign subsidiaries controlled by Singaporean TNCs. This latter phenomenon represents negative outflows of FDI from host countries back to Singapore.

(1) parties who are actually capable of controlling the Company or funds under the management of the Company or parties exerting great influence upon the Company or the operation of funds, like controlling shareholders of the Company and trustees of funds, etc. and

It was, however, part of a holding company, Strategic Resources Corporation (SRC), which included companies with various social purposes that provided different economic services.

Fundline includes portfolio investment funds, private equity funds and companies, venture capital funds, mutual funds and other equity vehicles.

The Chinese Investment Corporation s biggest investment last year was a 30 ( 3.2 billion) stake in the gas and oil exploration and production sector of the French energy giant GDF Suez. CIC chose to take a significant share in one branch, rather than a small share in the whole group, because doing so offered both a strategic advantage (access to energy resources) and a monetary benefit (investment in dollar denominated assets).

Dr. Bamanga Tukur, Group Chairman of the BHI Holdings Limited

Dr. Bamanga Tukur, Group Chairman of the BHI Holdings Limited

The Kuwait Investment Authority, also a state owned fund, holds 7 of Daimler. Singapore possesses two SWFs Temasek Holdings, with capital assets of roughly 100 billion, and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, with approximately 330 billion.

It should be noted that the Department of Statistics defines foreign controlled companies as either wholly owned (100 per cent) or majority owned (at least 50 per cent of paid up shares).

Consider, for example, the Corporate Governance Quotient system, developed by the US firm RiskMetrics, the world s dominant shareholder advisory firm. RiskMetrics system, which is used by institutional investors around the world, attaches considerable weight to the arrangements governing contests for control.

Another interesting observation is that the Caribbean and Latin American countries emerged as an important host region for OFDI from Singapore.

In 2003, the region hosted some 28 per cent of OFDI from Singapore. While some of this OFDI was in the natural resources sector, a substantial portion went to tax free zones in the region.

Family capitalism in the continental European model uses relatively little capital to achieve maximum control. It frequently depends on very complex corporate structures, with multiple layers of holding companies, as well as privileged shares that can guarantee the continuation of control.

The financial sector continues to spearhead Singapore's OFDI. Some 47 per cent of OFDI in 1990 came from this sector.

A company might have a single shareholder or group of shareholders with majority control of the company, either through holding the majority of the company's outstanding equity or through holding shares with superior voting rights.

Equity capital is obtained in the first place from the project sponsors or other individual investors interested in taking stock in the project company.

Other complementary sources of equity capital may include investment funds and other so called institutional investors such as insurance companies, mutual funds or pension funds.

Other companies in the holding company were still in the country, but involved in exclusively economic activities.

While the claimant and the respondent had signed the arbitration agreement, a company (the sole shareholder of the respondent), the individual shareholders of that company, and the wholly owned subsidiaries of the claimant had not.

A recent study found that patient shareholders account for a larger portion of the shares of companies that espouse a long term sustainability agenda relative to companies committed to share price maximization. A growing number of investors are looking for responsible investment or impact investment opportunities that promise a mix of both financial and social returns.

Foreign firms are now barred from majority ownership of banks and insurance companies. Relaxing such restrictions would strengthen the financial sector and play an important role in economic growth.