London allowing dual class Premium listings: A Swedish commentary

London allowing dual class Premium listings: A Swedish commentary

Erik Lidman, Rolf Skog

Series number :

Serial Number: 
580/2021

Date posted :

April 14 2021

Last revised :

April 14 2021
SSRN Share

Keywords

  • Dual Class Shares • 
  • multiple voting shares • 
  • UK Listing Review • 
  • Swedish Corporate Governance

In the UK Listing Review it is suggested that the London Stock Exchange should allow companies with dual class share (DCS) structures with differentiated voting rights to list on the Premium segment. In this paper, we discuss this proposal. First, we present an overview of the DCS-debate together with the proposition in the Hill Review to allow for DCS-listings under certain conditions.

Second, we discuss the arguments that are made against DCS-listings. For the sake of comparison and reference, we then give an overview of the Swedish DCS-regulation and the political economy. From there, we discuss the conditions for DCS-listing recommended in the Hill Review. Our conclusion is that several of the DCS-listing conditions suggested might not only hinder DCS-structures from being useful for companies that wish to utilize such structures but would in several cases disable the corporate governance mechanisms that would otherwise counteract several of the problems that DCS-structures can give rise to, most prominently the market for corporate control.

Published in

Published in: 
Publication Title: 
Forthcoming, Nordic Journal of Company Law (NTS)

Authors

Dr.
Real name:
Erik Lidman
Stockholm School of Economics