TORONTO (Reuters) - Magna International Inc.'s plan to pay Frank Stronach an enormous premium to give up control of the company he founded is a special case that's unlikely to set a trend among dual-class listed companies.

To be sure, a who's who of Canadian companies are set up much like Magna, including Shaw Communications Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Bombardier Inc., Power Corp. and Astral Media.

All of them have a dual-class structure that allows a person or group to control the company through special shares that carry more votes than than regular class shares.

At Magna, Mr. Stronach owns just 0.6 percent the equity, but his shares carry 300 votes each, versus one vote each for the subordinate shares, putting the reins firmly in his hands.

Using that structure, Mr. Stronach built his small tool-and-die shop into the world's No.3 auto-parts company, with a market capitalisation of about $8 billion.

Over the years, Mr. Stronach has tried to take the company in directions that many shareholders openly opposed.

One example is Magna Entertainment, a racetrack operator. Mr. Stronach, a thoroughbred enthusiast, started the company under Magna's banner and then it took public, though with a Magna subsidiary as the key stakeholder.

There was also a failed bid to buy Chrysler in 2007 - Mr. Stronach later said Magna "dodged a bullet" with that one - and a failed bid for General Motors Co.'s Opel unit last year.

"The concern is that the multi-voters permit that sort of thing and therefore the stocks can attract a discount because of the risks that are entailed," said David Tyerman, an analyst at Genuity Capital Markets in Toronto.

By contrast, most other Canadian dual-listed companies are in good standing among investors and do not trade at a discount.

As a consequence, most of them have little incentive to change the status quo.