argue that our finding represents the incidence of “positioning” merger (Gorton et al., 2009). Moreover, transfer of …

,300 mergers that took place between 1978 and 2001 to analyse the determinants of international bank mergers. We test the extent to … which information costs and regulations hold back merger activity. Our results suggest that banks operating in more … regulated environments are less likely to be the targets of international bank mergers. Hence, the lifting of regulations can …

Largely constant average acquirer returns over the past four decades mask fundamental changes in the takeover market … consistent with rising merger synergies that have become less bidder-specific …