Germany, Inc.: Empirical analyses using the German exchange-traded corporations legal database

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Andreas Engert
• Subject Area: Private Law
• Term: from 2021 to 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 461199262

The proposal builds on the DFG grant "Deutschland AG", expiring in August 2024. The current project is concerned with compiling a comprehensive legal database of publicly traded German stock corporations in the period 1974–2021. The proposal for a renewal has three objectives: (1) To complete the database, update it for an additional three years (2022-2024), and seek private funding to ensure its continuity. (2) To utilize the new database for a study of listed subsidiaries. The project will seek to provide a comprehensive descriptive analysis of the structure and dynamics of corporate groups with listed subsidiaries; in particular, it will examine the formation and termination of such groups involving outside minority shareholders. On this basis, it will evaluate the minority protection provided by the traditional German law of corporate groups ("Konzernrecht") as well as the new rules on related-party transactions. (3) A second study will investigate the efficacy of subscription rights in new share issues in listed stock corporations as a minority-protection mechanism. Leveraging the new database enables a comprehensive descriptive analysis of capital increases. Taking into account the recent international discussion on minority protection in the issuance of new shares, the project will examine the determinants of different designs of seasoned equity offerings—including subscription rights—and their effects on the market valuation of existing shareholdings with a view to assessing the efficacy of subscription rights and other minority-protection safeguards.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants