We examine the effect of institutional investors on the valuation of listed shipping firms. Institutional investors have a positive influence on the market value of shipping firms, confirming that institutional ownership is a “universal” corporate governance mechanism. This valuation effect is more pronounced in firms dominated by institutional investors with a short-term investment horizon. It is also stronger in firms with high stock liquidity, suggesting that short-term investors, through the threat of exit, are able to mitigate agency conflicts and improve corporate governance. Investment regressions indicate that shipping firms with a larger fraction of short-term investors are better able to exploit growth opportunities.

我们研究机构投资者对上市航运公司估值的影响。机构投资者对船运公司的市场价值具有积极影响，证实了机构所有权是一种“普遍的”公司治理机制。在以短期投资为目标的机构投资者主导的公司中，这种估值效应更为明显。在具有高股票流动性的公司中，该指标也更强，这表明短期投资者通过退出威胁可以缓解代理冲突并改善公司治理。投资回归表明，短期投资者所占比例较大的船运公司能够更好地利用增长机会。