A1621
Title: Corporate delisting and investors' attention to climate risk
Authors: Stefano Colonnello - Ca' Foscari University of Venice (Italy) [presenting]
Monica Billio - University of Venice (Italy)
Ivan Gufler - LUISS (Italy)
Abstract: The focus is on the universe of public companies from the largest European economies to explore the impact of shifting investors' attention towards climate risk in recent years on firms' decision to delist and go private, possibly to dodge increasingly stringent disclosure requirements and scrutiny. In a prima facie aggregate analysis, we show that, despite growing attention to the issue, the presence of listed (relative to non-listed) firms has not declined in several of the sectors most exposed to climate risk. Even at the micro-level, we do not find evidence that firms operating in climate-sensitive sectors delist at higher rates. We confirm this result by means of a quasi-natural experiment centered on the enhanced disclosure requirements introduced by the EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive of 2014. Whereas firms affected by the directive become more likely to get an ESG rating, they are not more likely to go private.
