ZAKLADA KAO (VEĆINSKI) ČLAN TRGOVAČKOG DRUŠTVA

Abstract

There is a new phenomenon in corporate governance of companies – foundations as shareholders. Foundations are traditionally held as legal entities which strive to accomplish a public or charitable purpose. However, modern practice highlights foundations which control companies (foundation-owned companies) or invest in them, thus becoming shareholders. Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and many other countries both in the European Union and outside are a home to big successful companies under the control of foundations. In this new form of corporate governance, relation between management of foundations and companies becomes crucial, especially the extent to which a foundation is actively involved in operating the company, and possible overlapping between managers of the foundation and the company. The goal of this article is to analyze corporate governance of companies which have foundations as their major or minority members/shareholders. This article shall also research into the Croatian foundations and their involvement in companies. The research is based on the publicly available data on portfolio of foundations, which shows if Croatian foundations invest in companies, and thus act as shareholders. This article contributes to the discussion on the importance of foundations in economic development of countries through both corporate and charitable activism.