Activist Shareholders and the Duration of Supervisory Board Membership: Evidence for the German Aufsichtsrat

We study the fixed term nature of the German supervisory board appointment hypothesizing that the timing of the upcoming election has an impact on the credibility of effort by activist investors. More credible approaches should consequently be associated with higher wealth effects. An average abnormal return that is up to 6.9 percent higher can be observed when potential activists consider the timing of the next supervisory board election. Capital markets apparently perceive an activist effort within one to two years prior to the election as being most credible. Quite contrary to intuition it seems that high cash positions on targets’ balance sheets have a negative impact on the post-announcement wealth effects.