Pels Rijcken has assisted public and private parties for decades in issues regarding public shareholdings. We are the party to fulfil the role of adviser in setting up governance, dealing with integrity issues, the resolution of internal disputes and the sale of participating interests.
Governance
Control via shares is mainly governed by the articles of association of the private or public company involved. The articles of association may include governance. The term "governance" encompasses, in brief, the use of powers, decision-making structures, possibilities for influencing, supervision, democratic control and transparency.
Through governance, the desired influence of the government as shareholder can be optimally shaped, within the frameworks of the law and according to the wishes of the government. If the government itself sets up the private or public company, it can design those articles of association itself. The frameworks of public law and administrative and political choices must of course also be taken into account. When organising governance, thought should also be given to the roles and the information and accountability cycle within the public shareholder.
Questions about governance often come up during empowerment processes, privatisations, (financial) restructuring and setting up public incentive funds because the degree of control has a bearing on issues in several legal areas, such as administrative law and procurement law. Yet, it may also affect the way participating interests can be financed.
The Public Shares Monitor
Based on our experience in the area of public shareholdings, we helped create the Public Shares Monitor. The Public Shares Monitor (Publieke Aandelen Monitor) is an annual survey in which themes related to Dutch public shareholdings are mapped out. The Public Shares Monitor was first published in 2015. Now this research is conducted annually by Deloitte Corporate Finance (formerly Boer & Croon Corporate Finance), Pels Rijcken and The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The Public Shares Monitor focuses annually on trends in shareholdings expressed in figures and also highlights a current interesting theme directly related to public shareholdings. In 2018, this was the energy transition.
The 2018 Public Shares Monitor can be downloaded here.
