Vulture Investors, Predators of the 90s: An Ethical Examination

Investment in financially distressed companies has taken place since the end of the depression. But a new breed of predatory activist investors called "vultures" has emerged in recent years. They take sizable debt positions in insolvent companies with the intention of significantly increas...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Carson, A. Scott (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V 1998
In: Journal of business ethics
Year: 1998, Volume: 17, Issue: 5, Pages: 543-555
Further subjects:B Ethical Examination
B Activist Investor
B Depression
B Economic Growth
B Insolvent Company
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Summary:Investment in financially distressed companies has taken place since the end of the depression. But a new breed of predatory activist investors called "vultures" has emerged in recent years. They take sizable debt positions in insolvent companies with the intention of significantly increasing the value of their investment through aggressive negotiation either in bankruptcy or in pre-bankruptcy restructurings. Predators thrive on adversarial conflict. Vulture investment is legal, but is it morally acceptable? This paper argues that the strategies and tactics of vultures may be very unpleasant, but in themselves these are insufficient grounds for moral censure.
ISSN:1573-0697
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1023/A:1005718715162