Norges Finances Wagner's Research

THE BOCCONI PROFESSOR AND TWO COAUTHORS HAVE RECEIVED A 150,000 EUROS INITIATIVE GRANT BY NORGES BANK, THE NORWEGIAN FINANCE INITIATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAMME. THE GOAL: DEVELOPING AN INVESTIGATION ON ENGAGED OWNERSHIP

Hannes Wagner, Associate Professor of Finance at Bocconi, and two coauthors, Marco Becht (Université Libre de Bruxelles) and Julian Franks (London Business School) have been awarded a joint research grant of 150,000 euros to realize an investigation on engaged ownership, the phenomenon by which institutional investors manage to steer companies’ decision-making and corporate governace. “We will focus our attention on corporate governance, hedge fund activism and institutional investors for the next three years”, explains Wagner.

The grant has been awarded by Norges Bank under the Norwegian Finance Initiative (NFI) Research Programme aimed at “strengthening financial economic research and education in Norway by providing long-term incentives to promote excellence in financial economic research and education at academic institutions”, as stated on the official website.

Wagner, Becht and Franks’ research will analyze the effectiveness of engaged ownership by examining the extent, impact and value of engaged ownership by Standard Life Investments (SLI), a global asset manager.

by Benedetta Ciotto