The Globalisation of Financial Markets and Its Effects on the Swedish Industrial Structure

There are a number of determining factors to the increased globalization. An important explanation is the extensive deregulation of global financial markets that has taken place in recent decades. This has led to the emergence of new types of ownership. Especially venture capital companies that buy, restructure and resell established companies have become important owners of companies in countries such as the USA, England and Sweden. Venture capital companies are also becoming increasingly active across national borders. One in ten of all acquisitions that took place across national borders during the period 1998–2008 were investments made by venture capital companies. In the policy debate, there has been a concern that these acquisitions are primarily driven by financial benefits and tax benefits, and thereby risk leading to less efficient ownership of companies and lower welfare. The purpose of this sub-project was to study both theoretically and empirically the driving forces behind acquisitions made by venture capital companies and how this type of ownership affects society.