Governança corporativa: os investidores institucionais importam para as empresas brasileiras?

Objective: This study analyzed the relationship between having institutional investors in Brazilian companies’ shareholding structures and their corporate governance practices. Method: The sample included 118 companies between 2010 and 2020, totaling 1,298 company-year observations. The Corporate Governance Practices Index (CGI) was used to measure the quality of corporate governance of the sampled companies. The number of institutional investors in the companies’ shareholding structures was verified, and those with relevant holdings were individually classified. Results: The results from the GMM-Sys regression show a positive relationship between pension fund participation and the CGI score, contradicting the results of Brazilian studies but aligning with those of international literature. These results also show that companies whose shareholding base has considerable participation of institutional investors tend to present improved governance practices. Contributions: This study’s findings detail the relationship between institutional investors and the corporate governance practices of the companies they invest in, allowing a better understanding of how corporate governance and institutional investors’ participation in the Brazilian market have progressed over the last decade.