Several recent high profile company share price collapses on the Australian Stock Exchange highlight the danger posed to ordinary shareholders from large scale margin trading of shares by directors of listed firms. So dramatic have been the consequences that no equities investor can afford to ignore the lessons.
Significant shareholdings by directors in a listed company have traditionally been viewed favorably as an alignment of executives’ and other private shareholders’ interests, but this ideal can be dramatically compromised in cases where those large shareholdings have been aggregated through, and remain security for, margin loans. Directors leveraging into positions well beyond their capacity to meet margin calls may create a known and acceptable risk for themselves but their actions inescapably also create a significant but hidden and usually unsuspected risk for other shareholders. Continue reading →