We provide evidence that ex ante misvaluation matters for merger activities in the UK 1986-2002 using a sample of 302 bidders and targets. Sector or long-run misvaluation causes merger firms to be more overvalued than nonmerger firms. Acquirers are overvalued absolutely and relative to targets...

We propose and test a new misvaluation approach to mergers and acquisitions (Mamp;As) using a sample of 302 UK bidders and targets 1986-2002. Our model assumes that managers have insider information on book values while investors only have publicly available information. We find that bidders are...

This paper examines the effects of ex-ante misvaluation on merger activities in UK 1985-2002 using a sample of 302 bidders and targets. Adopting the methodology of M/B by Rhodes-Kropf, Robinson, and Viswananthan (2005), we decompose M/B into three components: firm-specific errors, sector-wide...

We analyse a unique sample of 165 foreign divestitures by UK firms 1986-1995. These divestitures lead to significantly positive shareholder wealth effects of 4.8% over the 10 days before and after the announcement date. They are several times larger than the corresponding wealth effects reported...