Corporate control, family firms and dividend decisions in Canada

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between dividend payments, firms' decisions control and the nature of family firms, in order to assess whether large shareholders expropriate wealth from minority shareholders in Canada. Using data collected from various sources, we formulated and tested three hypotheses related to this issue using OLS and logit regression models. Our results indicate that in Canadian firms, dividends are used as a protective mechanism for minority shareholders against the possibility of expropriation by large shareholders. The protective power of dividend, however, seems less effective in Canadian family firms. The hidden reason is the control that families exert on the dividend payout policy. Overall, our results show no clear evidence of expropriation of wealth inflicted on small shareholders by large shareholders. This research has shown that the financial policies of Canadian firms in which a family represents the majority of the shareholders are insufficiently studied and deserve the attention of finance academia and professionals, due to their significant impact on corporate dividend policy.