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Manuscript Type: EmpiricalResearch Question/Issue: It is fairly well established that business group affiliation can compensate for relatively weak institutions in emerging markets, and in Japan. However, business groups are also common in the EU, and there have not yet been any studies of business group affiliation and firm performance in the EU. Consequently, we investigate how business group affiliation affects firm performance in Belgium. Research Findings/Insights: We find that operating profitability of group companies is significantly lower than that of stand-alone companies, while group companies have more volatile profits than stand-alone companies. Operating profitability of group companies does not depend on the extent of group diversification. Internal capital markets transfer funds from good performers to poorly performing group companies. The impact of group affiliation on profitability does not depend on group age or group ownership. Theoretical Implications: Our study is, to the best of our knowledge, the first to investigate how affiliation with a business group affects company performance in a developed country other than Japan. The results raise the question why business groups endure in so many developed countries with good investor protection and well-developed capital markets. Some explanations proposed in the literature are not confirmed. Practical Implications: Our study offers insights to policy makers and practitioners on the value and the role of business groups in developed countries. The results raise doubts about the value of these groups in such countries and suggest that policy makers may want to consider dismantling business groups in EU countries.

In Belgian corporate groups, complex pyramidal structures and interlocking ownership lead to separation of ownership and control. This may generate incentives for the controlling shareholder to divert resources within the group through intragroup equity sales. This in turn could lead to significant private benefits at the expense of the minority shareholders. We test this hypothesis by investigating the stock price reaction to the announcement of equity sales in Belgian groups. Our results suggest that intragroup equity sales create value for minority shareholders. Equity sales between group members and non-group members do not seem to affect the value for minority shareholders in Belgian groups. JEL classification: G14, G32, and G342.1 See Renneboog (1997) and Van Hulle (1998) for a more extended analysis of Belgian holding structures; Banerjee, Leleux and Vermaelen (1997) for an interesting analysis of French holding structures and Bigelli and Mengoli (1999) for Italian ones, which are both very comparable to Belgian holding structures. The Italian equity market is also similar to the Belgian equity market: few companies are quoted, concentration of ownership is high, and pyramidal ownership structures with holding companies as intermediate investment vehicles are common (Bianchi, Bianco and Enriques, 2000).

Several studies find that business groups create value for affiliated companies in developing countries, which are characterized by weak institutions and poorly functioning markets. In these countries, business groups can act as an intermediary between imperfect markets and individual entrepreneurs. This raises the question whether business groups also create value in countries with strong institutions and well-functioning markets, as there are also substantial costs associated with business groups. We investigate the performance of group-affiliated companies in Belgium, and find that these companies significantly underperform compared to stand-alone companies. Moreover, our results suggest that internal capital markets in Belgian business groups result in misallocation of capital.