The Interface of Corporate Governance with M&A : Research Themes

The paper reviews the literature on the interface between Corporate Governance (CG) and Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As). In particular, it aims to highlight the themes that have been explored by the researchers in the area of CG-M&A literature and to identify the potential areas of research in CGM& A. The review is based on CG-M&A research published during 2001 to 2018 and indexed on Google Scholar. The articles have been classified according to the themes to identify the work in CG-M&A domain in the extant literature. The study found that during 2001-2018, thirty research articles had been published researching the interface between corporate governance and M&A. Most of the CG-M&A research has been done in the developed markets. A majority of the articles have analyzed the impact of board characteristics on M&A performance. Other themes include the focus of CG in different countries and its impact on M&As, CG and cross border M&As, anti-takeover provisions as a dimension of CG, the relationship of CG, accounting standards, and legal protection with M&As, relationship of CG with the firms' performance around M&As, and synergies in M&As due to CG practices. The study highlights the emerging areas of research in CG-M&A. The paper also identifies lesser explored areas in CG-M&A research and provides suggestions for future research. The paper is useful to researchers and academicians working in the area of corporate governance and M&A