Principal-principal conflicts: Is it a big problem in ASEAN 4 markets?

Abstract

This paper examines the issue of principal-principal (PP) conflicts in large public listed companies in four ASEAN countries. The PP conflicts are regarded as a major problem in emerging markets and have attracted considerable attention. The percentage of cash dividend of total assets is used to measure the expropriation depicted in PP conflicts. A sample of companies with total assets of US$1 billion are filtered to select those with single/multiple block holders of shareholdings concentration equal to or greater than five percent. A regression model is estimated with PP conflicts as the dependent variable. The findings confirm the existence of PP conflicts, suggesting that large shareholders do expropriate company wealth by paying higher cash dividends. This expropriation occurs through agency perspective and makes it apparent that PP conflicts are a major problem in ASEAN markets.