We study annual general meetings of shareholders in the Netherlands. The Dutch corporate governance system is characterized by relatively concentrated shareholdings and large stakes owned by pension funds, banks and insurance companies. The legal protection of shareholders is poor due to the...

Going public often creates an agency conflict between the owner-manager and minority shareholders. One possible way to resolve this conflict is through independent board monitoring. But board monitoring does not arise automatically in IPO companies. Owner-managers tend to entrench and capture...