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Acquiring the Family Way Performance of Serial Acquirers in Family versus Non-family Firms

Wojcieszek, Eryka LU and Stenhård, Julia LU (2025) NEKN02 20251
Department of Economics
Abstract
This thesis investigates how family ownership affects the short-term market reaction to acquisition announcements by serial acquirers. While family firms are traditionally viewed as conservative and long-term oriented, some engage in repeated acquisitions, a strategy typically associated with higher risk and managerial overconfidence. Using a sample of 678 acquisitions by Swedish publicly listed firms from 2010 to 2024, we compare the cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) around M&A announcements between family and non-family firms. Our results
show that family-owned serial acquirers experience significantly lower short-term abnormal returns than their non-family equivalents, suggesting that markets react less favorably to acquisitions led... (More)
This thesis investigates how family ownership affects the short-term market reaction to acquisition announcements by serial acquirers. While family firms are traditionally viewed as conservative and long-term oriented, some engage in repeated acquisitions, a strategy typically associated with higher risk and managerial overconfidence. Using a sample of 678 acquisitions by Swedish publicly listed firms from 2010 to 2024, we compare the cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) around M&A announcements between family and non-family firms. Our results
show that family-owned serial acquirers experience significantly lower short-term abnormal returns than their non-family equivalents, suggesting that markets react less favorably to acquisitions led by family firms. These findings remain under alternative definitions of family ownership, and remain robust to several model specifications. The results contribute to the literature by highlighting the interaction between ownership structure and acquisition strategy, suggesting that family control may not always align with investor expectations in an acquisition
driven context. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Wojcieszek, Eryka LU and Stenhård, Julia LU
supervisor
organization
course
NEKN02 20251
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
Family Ownership, Serial Acquirers, M&A, Abnormal Returns, Corporate Governance
language
English
id
9194940
date added to LUP
2025-09-12 10:40:41
date last changed
2025-09-12 10:40:41
@misc{9194940,
  abstract     = {{This thesis investigates how family ownership affects the short-term market reaction to acquisition announcements by serial acquirers. While family firms are traditionally viewed as conservative and long-term oriented, some engage in repeated acquisitions, a strategy typically associated with higher risk and managerial overconfidence. Using a sample of 678 acquisitions by Swedish publicly listed firms from 2010 to 2024, we compare the cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) around M&A announcements between family and non-family firms. Our results 
show that family-owned serial acquirers experience significantly lower short-term abnormal returns than their non-family equivalents, suggesting that markets react less favorably to acquisitions led by family firms. These findings remain under alternative definitions of family ownership, and remain robust to several model specifications. The results contribute to the literature by highlighting the interaction between ownership structure and acquisition strategy, suggesting that family control may not always align with investor expectations in an acquisition 
driven context.}},
  author       = {{Wojcieszek, Eryka and Stenhård, Julia}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Acquiring the Family Way Performance of Serial Acquirers in Family versus Non-family Firms}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}