The worldwide availability of easy external financing has been an essential driver of recent M&A activity and a growing perception exists that such conditions may have resulted in a large number of non-value increasing transactions. This paper evaluates the interaction between credit conditions,...

This paper analyses some particular characteristics of merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions in an emerging market (Portugal) using a sample of 52 M&A targets between 1989 and 2001. Our evidence shows that the run-up effect in the Portuguese market is of a significantly larger magnitude (as...

We evaluate the over-valuation hypothesis and merger arbitrage price pressure hypothesis as potential explanations for the observed negative returns to stock acquirers around merger announcement. Using daily shorting flow data, we show that the majority of the negative announcement returns can...

This paper connects three subjects related to international financial markets -- (i) information asymmetry, (ii) market segmentation, and (iii) cross-listings -- and highlights their implication for event study methodology. When firms list equities on more than one exchange, and the exchanges...

A structural event study methodology accounts for the interaction of two M&A effects: synergy (total value) and dominance (bargaining power). This interaction jointly (simultaneously) determines the parties’ abnormal returns. We propose an instrumental variable approach. An application in...

This paper examines how the distribution of target ownership is related with takeover premium in owner-manager dominant acquisitions, in which a firm is managed by managers and directors nominated and directed closely by controlling shareholders. We find that there exists the agency problem...

This study analyzes the effectiveness of the Market Abuse Directive (MAD) in reducing possible profits from insider trading during voluntary tender offers with the purpose of delisting initiated by controlling shareholders. Exploiting the quasi-experimental setting provided by the introduction...

Largely constant average acquirer returns over the past four decades mask fundamental changes in the takeover market. Controlling for bidder composition, the common component of acquirer returns has increased by five percentage points relative to the 1980s. Offsetting this increase, the average...

This paper studies how institutional characteristics of Specified Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) are related to their post-merger survival. SPACs are unique financial firms that conduct the IPO with the solely purpose to use the proceeds to acquire another private company. Paper finds...

We use hand-collected board data around the issuance of two distinct government-led board structure mandates in the U.K. to establish the effect of outside directors on acquirer performance. Increases in outside director representation are associated with better acquirer returns in deals...