Capital Markets and Company Law

Klaus Hopt is the Director of the Max Planck Institute for Foreign Private and Private International Law in Hamburg, Germany . He has been a Professor in Tuebingen, Florence, Bern, Munich, and a visiting Professor in the University of Pennsylvania, EUI Florence, Paris I / Sorbonne, Kyoto University, Univeriste Libre de Bruxelles, Geneva, Tokyo University, University of Chicago, and New York University. He was a judge at the Court of Appeals of Stuttgart from 1981-1985, and a member of the International Faculty of Corporate and Capital Market Law. He has also been a member of the German Take-over Commission, the Deputation Deutscher Juristentag, the Group of high Level Experts on Company Law, and of the European Commission. He has been an expert for the German Parliament, for various German Ministries, for Bulgaria, and for the World Bank. Eddy Wymeersch is Professor of Commercial Law, University of Ghent, Belgium, where he teaches company law, securities regulation and banking law. He is a consultant to the EC Commission, the World Bank, and the IFC. He is a member of the corporate governance commission of the Brussels Stock Exchange, and Chairman of the Simpler Legislation for the Internal Market working party on the 1st and 2nd directive. He also acts as advisor to the Belgian Government, as a member of the Legislative Branch of the Council of State. He is a member of the Board of the National Bank of Belgium, and the Belgian Corporate Governance Commission. He was Chairman of the Board of Brussels International Airport Company, and adviser on governance issues to several listed Belgian Companies.

1. FACTS AND FIGURES ; 2. LEGAL CAPITAL ; 3. DISCLOSURE AND ACCOUNTING ; 4. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND SHAREHOLDER VALUE ; 5. THE INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR ; 6. THE CORPORATE GOVERNANCE RECOMMENDATIONS ; 7. CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS ; 8. GROUPS OF COMPANIES ; 9. HARMONISATION OF COMPANY LAW ; 10. CONVERGENCE OF DIVERGENCE