Explaining the performance of Spanish privatised firmsa panel data approach

Resumen

Using a panel data of 70 Spanish privatised firms, we study whether the shares held in the divested firms’ capital by employees, managers and the State, the nationality of the buyer, the economic environment, as well as the firms’ size, may explain the performance of privatised firms. The results suggest that firms in which the State completely relinquishes control have more probabilities of maximizing efficiency. Besides, the entrance of foreign investors in the firms’ capital may provide firms with new know-how and access to new technologies and markets that may also improve the success of privatisations processes. Moreover, the results suggest that privatisations of SOEs per se may not be sufficient to improve their performance, since privatisations that are accompanied by liberalisation programs and competition turn out to be more successful. Finally, these results are in general terms the same both for firms privatised through direct sale and public offering.