THE ROLE OF PENSION FUNDS IN CORPORATE GOVERNANCE OF PORTFOLIO COMPANIES.

Purpose: The purpose of the present study is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the importance of pension funds in the most important corporate governance mechanisms of listed companies in Poland. Design/methodology/approach: Due to the complexity of the subject, four research approaches have been applied. These include: the importance of pension funds in the capital market, their share in the shareholding structure of listed companies, the activity of open pension funds (OFE) at general meetings of shareholders, the formal and effective participation of OFE at general meetings of shareholders. Fourteen indicators were used that measure the share of pension funds in corporate governance. Findings: Pension funds have about 4.5 times bigger market capitalisation share than the investment funds. They are shareholders of 50% of the companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The largest OFE are very active in proposing resolutions, candidates for supervisory boards and taking action aimed to protect the interests of minority shareholders. The effectiveness of supervision exercised by pension funds depends, inter alia, on their formal and effective participation in control structures at general meetings of shareholders. In the companies studied, the effective participation of OFE at general meetings of shareholders was on average 1.5 times higher than their formal participation. The possibilities of influence of OFE are therefore much greater than their formal shares in the control structure. Research limitations/implications: The formal and effective OFE participation at general meetings of shareholders has been studied on the example of 47 companies, in which the total OFE share in the shareholding structure was around 25% and more. Further research should include all companies with OFE share. Practical implications: The results of the research may be important for further directions of development of the capital market and pension system in Poland. Originality/value: The added value of this study lies in both the methodological aspects and the empirical findings. An important element of novelty is that a methodology has been proposed to explore different aspects of this complex problem. This has enabled a multithreaded but coherent analysis of the importance of pension funds in corporate governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]