This paper studies the impact of European bank mergers and acquisitions on changes in key safety and soundness measures …

We analyze the takeover premiums paid for a sample of European bank mergers between 1997 and 2007. We find that … acquiring banks value profitable, high-growth and low risk targets. We also find that the strength of bank regulation and … supervision as well as deposit insurance regimes in Europe have measurable effects on takeover pricing. Stricter bank regulatory …