Shareholding control, ownership concentration, and the value of the Brazilian firm

The study analyzes whether the type of shareholding control (dispersed, shared, or dominant) affects agency conflicts by investigating the relationship between shareholding control, ownership concentration, and firm value. The sample is a panel data comprising 1977 firm-year observations from 167 Brazilian firms in the period 2010–2022. Our results show that shared control creates value, whereas dominant control destroys firm value. Voting rights concentration and cash-flow rights reduce the value of firms with dispersed and shared control. However, at firms with dominant control, these firm characteristics increase firm value. Excess voting rights, in turn, destroy the value of firms with shared and dominant control. Our evidence shows that the type of shareholding control influences the nature and magnitude of agency conflicts and the relationship between ownership concentration and firm value. Thus, within an institutional environment, agency conflicts may differ among firms, depending on the type of shareholding control.