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M&A Success and Economic Cycles: A Survey of European Firms

Cardinali, Andrew LU and Wikrén, Björn LU (2012) BUSN89 20121
Department of Business Administration
Abstract
There is limited research that investigates the relationship between M&A success and market valuation periods. Furthermore existing research deals primarily with the U.S. market. This paper explores whether acquisitions in Europe occurring during high market valuation periods are fundamentally different than those occurring during low market valuation periods. We find that acquisitions during high valuation periods yield significantly higher announcement returns that those that occurred during the low valuation periods. Furthermore, the high valuation firms yielded significantly higher long term returns than the low valuation firms. However, the combined sample of firms and the high, low and neutral portfolios all had significantly... (More)
There is limited research that investigates the relationship between M&A success and market valuation periods. Furthermore existing research deals primarily with the U.S. market. This paper explores whether acquisitions in Europe occurring during high market valuation periods are fundamentally different than those occurring during low market valuation periods. We find that acquisitions during high valuation periods yield significantly higher announcement returns that those that occurred during the low valuation periods. Furthermore, the high valuation firms yielded significantly higher long term returns than the low valuation firms. However, the combined sample of firms and the high, low and neutral portfolios all had significantly negative long term returns. We attribute the negative long term returns to the dynamics of the European market and the cross-border nature of a large portion of the acquisitions in our sample (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Cardinali, Andrew LU and Wikrén, Björn LU
supervisor
organization
course
BUSN89 20121
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
Mergers and acquisitions, event study, calendar time abnormal returns, domestic and cross-border acquisitions, economic cycles, announcement effects
language
English
id
2628685
date added to LUP
2012-06-25 10:33:42
date last changed
2012-06-25 10:33:42
@misc{2628685,
  abstract     = {{There is limited research that investigates the relationship between M&A success and market valuation periods. Furthermore existing research deals primarily with the U.S. market. This paper explores whether acquisitions in Europe occurring during high market valuation periods are fundamentally different than those occurring during low market valuation periods. We find that acquisitions during high valuation periods yield significantly higher announcement returns that those that occurred during the low valuation periods. Furthermore, the high valuation firms yielded significantly higher long term returns than the low valuation firms. However, the combined sample of firms and the high, low and neutral portfolios all had significantly negative long term returns. We attribute the negative long term returns to the dynamics of the European market and the cross-border nature of a large portion of the acquisitions in our sample}},
  author       = {{Cardinali, Andrew and Wikrén, Björn}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{M&A Success and Economic Cycles: A Survey of European Firms}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}