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 …

-based synergies in horizontal merger activity. We propose a schematic to classify mergers that yields more information on merger types … and merger effects, and that can, moreover, distinguish between mergers characterized largely by collusion-based synergies … encompasses the impact of merger events not only on merging firms – as is custom – but also on non-merging competitor firms (the …

horizontal merger activity. We propose a theoretically-backed methodological approach to classify mergers that yields more … information on merger types and merger effects, and that can, moreover, distinguish between mergers characterized largely by … approach is that it encompasses the impact of merger events not only on merging firms (custom in the literature), but also on …