Concentration of ownership and performance: a study in the Brazilian listed companies of the electric utilities industry

Abstract

The concentration of ownership has long been discussed in order to assess its impact on business performance. This article aims to verify whether the ownership structure, more specifically the concentration of property, has an impact on the performance of companies of the electricity sector. Although numerous works on the theme have already been produced, this article introduces a new methodological approach by means of a new combination of variables, rekindling the discussion on the concentration of property in Brazil and the identity of these shareholders - in a peculiar scenery of scandals of mismanagement, controlled results, and business corruption in Brazil - from the perspective of the relationship between private and public capital with analysis performed in the electricity sector. The study was conducted through analysis of panel data. The sample analyzed considered 22 Brazilian public companies of the electricity sector between 2010 and 2014. The results show a better performance of the private enterprises in comparison with the public ones; better performance of companies with ordinary shares in the hands of only one majority shareholder; and a positive relationship with net profit. In contrast, the variables concerning common shares in the hands of the two largest shareholders and total assets showed a negative relationship with performance.

Keywords:
Performance evaluation; Corporate governance; Econometrics