On October 22, 2014, ISS published a note on the financial consequences for shareholders to vote “NO” to a proposed hostile takeover (see article here).   ISS claimed to have demonstrated that those shareholders who voted “No” to a proposed takeover of their company would have been better off financially if they had they agreed to the takeover.

According to a recent paper, the ISS note does not support such a blanket statement. The author’s take on the ISS paper highlights what they believe are many debatable aspects of ISS’ analysis. According to the authors the ISS analysis is marred by dubious analytical choices, questionable metrics and the remarkable absence of a key investment parameter, the risk/return relationship.