Corporate Acquisitions in Australia

Mergers and acquisitions are often disadvantageous for shareholders in the acquiring firm, but value-enhancing for the acquired firm and the CEO of the acquirer. Best corporate governance practice proposes that the roles of Chairman and CEO should be performed by different people, yet there is very little analysis linking these separate oles with firm performance. This study, using binary analysis, finds a significant positive correlation between the period of joint tenure of a Chairman and CEO in the acquirer with M&A outcomes, and a significant negative correlation between CEO remuneration change and M&A outcomes. These findings have implications for investors and corporate governance practice