Do state visits affect cross-border mergers and acquisitions?

This paper studies the relation between state visits and cross-border merger and acquisition (M&A) activity. Based on 1161 state visits and 11,531 cross-border acquisitions, we find that corporations from visiting countries are more likely to acquire corporations in countries hosting the visit. Domestic acquisitions in the host country or M&As with non-visiting countries are not elevated. Evidence from instrumental variable analysis points towards a causal effect of state visits on M&A activity. Further analysis shows that the elevated M&A activity originating from visiting countries can be attributed to business networking and a reduction in investment uncertainty and cultural barriers.     

Does economic policy uncertainty affect cross-border M&As? —— A data analysis based on Chinese multinational enterprises

This paper analyzes the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) of home and host countries on cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) using EPU indexes and the amount and quantity of China's cross-border M&As in 21 countries from 2001 to 2017. First, we find that uncertainty in the economic policy of the home country drives cross-border M&As, uncertainty in the host country's economic policy significantly inhibits cross-border M&As, and when the economy is in a pro-cyclical period, alleviates the influence of the host country's economic policy uncertainty on M&As. Second, the impact of the host country's economic policy uncertainty on cross-border M&As differs before and after the financial crisis. The host country's economic policy uncertainty is positively correlated with cross-border M&As before the crisis and significantly negatively correlated with it after the crisis. Third, the impact of economic policy uncertainty in the home and host countries on cross-border M&as is significant in developed countries but not significant in developing countries finally, differences in bilateral uncertainty and bilateral market growth are significantly positively correlated with the scale of M&A     

Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions and the Role of Free Trade Agreements

This article investigates the impact of the formation of free trade agreements (FTAs) on cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Using the comprehensive M&As dataset of Securities Data Company, we find that FTA relationship is associated with more bilateral cross-border M&As. Second, the cross-border M&As activities between a FTA country-pair do not increase faster than the acquiring country’s total foreign acquisitions, suggesting no evidence of investment diversion effect of FTA. Third, we find that existing FTA relationship with other countries positively affect cross-border M&As between a FTA country-pair. But these third-country FTA effects differ for acquiring country and target country when we look at the ratio of a country-pair’s FTA relative to the acquiring country’s total foreign M&As. Moreover, by exploring the detailed information on acquiring and target firms, we reveal that the effect of FTA differs for horizontal, vertical and conglomerate cross-border M&As. Our results are robust to various measures of M&As activities and econometric methods used.     

Cross-Border M&As Involving an Emerging Market

This study analyzes Korean firms’ motives for cross-border M&As, Asia’s representative emerging capital market, from the perspective of financial attributes, and defines the effects of group attributes of cross-border M&As on the wealth of acquiring firms’ shareholders. As for the group attributes of cross-border M&As, shareholders of small firms with high ROA do not like cross-border M&As, because the shareholders of small acquiring firms with sufficient internal growth factors are reluctant to transfer their present wealth to shareholders of foreign target firms. We also verify that the diversification effect with regard to cross-border M&As is accompanied by the diversification discount, but that firms with ample internal funds due to their high ROA like entering into new industries through cross-border M&As. Lastly, when target companies are listed in countries with highly uncertain GDP growth rates, acquiring firms’ value decreased.     

Cross-border mergers and acquisitions: The importance of local credit and source country finance

We study host and source country finance and the interplay between the two in determining the incidence and intensity of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) into the U.S. We find that states adopting interstate banking deregulation attract a greater number and higher total volume of cross-border M&A deals. We also document a positive impact of source country financial depth on the incidence of cross-border M&As and uncover a substitution effect between local and source country bank finance. The effects are larger for deals where cash is used as the method of payment as well as for firms that are more dependent on external finance, and smaller for publicly traded firms.     

Powerful bidders and value creation in M&As

This paper explores the role of bargaining ability in corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&As) by focusing on acquiring firms with ex-ante market power—powerful bidders. Drawing from a bargaining power theoretical stance, we argue that powerful bidders create value from M&A activity by paying comparatively lower premiums. We test our empirical proposition using a sample of 9327 M&A deals announced between 2004 and 2016 by bidders across 30 countries. Contrary to the stylized fact that bidders do not gain from M&A activity, we uncover evidence suggesting that powerful bidders pay lower bid premiums and, consequently, earn positive (and relatively higher) cumulative announcement returns (CARs) from M&A deals. On average, the mean returns to powerful bidders (1.3%) are at least twice those of their less powerful counterparts (0.6%). We identify “low financial constraints” as a potential channel through which higher bidder power translates to improved deal performance. Overall, our results provide new evidence on how industry dynamics, notably bargaining power, influences M&A outcomes.     

Glamour versus value,market timing and firm performance: evidence from mergers and acquisitions

This study examines the performance of glamour versus value firms in M&As. Specifically, the current study takes into account the market timing to explore the performance of glamour versus value firms in M&As. Using the standard event study methodology with 1109 targets and 6980 bidders during the 2000–2013 period, the results show that glamour (value) firms are more likely to choose the hot (cold) market condition to engage in M&As for both targets and bidders. The evidence also reveals that the performance of glamour versus value firms is less sensitive to the market timing for targets. While glamour bidding firms obtain lower announcement returns, the losses are even more significant during long run post-announcement period. A further analysis indicates that bidders in general experience negative announcement returns in the hot market irrespective of glamour versus value firms. While glamour bidding firms obtain lower post-announcement returns in the hot market relative to their value counterparts, glamour bidders generate higher post-announcement returns during the cold market than value bidders. The regression analysis finds consistent results for bidders. Overall, this study sheds lights on the importance of the market timing on the performance of glamour versus value firms in M&As.     

The impact of institutional investors on mergers and acquisitions in the United Kingdom

In this paper we investigate the impact of institutional ownership on UK mergers and acquisitions. We employ a comprehensive sample of M&As conducted by UK acquirers from 2000 to 2010, thus including a full cycle of peak and trough in M&A waves. We find that institutional investors increase the likelihood of an M&A to be a large, cross-border deal, opting for full control. Moreover, institutional ownership concentration and foreign institutional ownership increase the likelihood of cross-border M&As. In addition, we assess the influence of institutional shareholders’ investment horizon and find that while investment horizon have a negative influence in encouraging cross-border M&As, the presence of long-term investors encourages larger M&As. Finally, even after controlling for the 2007–08 financial crisis the market reacts negatively to the announcement of cross-border M&As.     

Cross-border M&As in the financial sector: Is banking different from insurance?

This paper investigates what factors might help explain the internationalization strategy of banks and insurance companies, by comparing the determinants of cross-border M&As in the two sectors in a unified framework. The empirical analysis shows that between 1990 and 2003 the internationalization of banks and insurance companies followed similar patterns. Distance and economic and cultural integration are important determinants for both the banks’ and the insurance companies’ expansion abroad. Comparative advantage also has a prominent role, the more so for banks. The evidence is less supportive of the view that cross-border M&As are more frequent between similar countries, as predicted by the new trade theory. Finally, and most interestingly, we find indirect evidence consistent with the hypothesis that implicit barriers to foreign entry are more important in explaining the behavior of banks than that of insurance companies.     

Economic freedom and cross-border venture capital performance

We investigate the determinants of cross-border venture capital (VC) performance using a large sample of 10,205 cross-border VC investments by 1906 foreign VC firms (VCs) in 6535 domestic portfolio companies. We focus on the impact of a domestic country's economic freedom on the performance of both VC investments and portfolio companies using a probit model and the Cox hazard model. After controlling for other related factors of domestic countries, portfolio companies, VCs and the global VC market, as well as year and industry fixed effects, we find that a domestic country's economic freedom is crucial to cross-border VC performance. In particular, in a more economically free country, as measured by the raw values of, quartiles of or the ranking in the index of economic freedom (IEF), a foreign VC-backed portfolio company is more likely to pull off a successful exit through an IPO (initial public offering) or an M&A (merger and acquisition), and a foreign VC firm is likely to spend a shorter investment duration in the portfolio company. We also identify interesting evidence on the impact of many other level factors of domestic countries, portfolio companies, VCs and the global VC market on cross-border VC performance.     

The effect of bidder conservatism on M&A decisions: Text-based evidence from US 10-K filings

This paper examines whether and how bidders' conservative tone in 10-K filings influences the subsequent mergers and acquisitions (M&A) investment decisions of these US firms from 1996 to 2013. Based on 39,260 firm-year observations, we find, consistent with behavioural consistency theory, that conservative bidders are less likely to engage in M&A deals. Further, those that decide to engage in M&As are likely to acquire public targets and within-industry firms. These bidders are inclined to employ more stock acquisitions than cash acquisitions. Our results also indicate that conservative bidders experience abnormally poor stock returns around the announcements of M&A investments. This provides new insights on the mechanism through which bidders' sentiments influence shareholders' wealth. Overall, these findings highlight the implications of the textual sentiment of corporate disclosure for the forecasting of corporate investment and financing decisions. Our results have practical implications, since they shed light on the value relevance of the information content of major Securities Exchange Commission (SEC)-mandated 10-K filings.     

What do bank acquirers want? Evidence from worldwide bank M&A targets

What drives bankers to create larger and larger, often multinational banking groups? In this paper we investigate whether the targets in cross-border bank M&As are materially different from those banks targeted in domestic M&A deals. The main message of this paper is that, with few exceptions, domestic and foreign investors target similar banks. In particular, and contrary to what one might expect, bank size does not have a different effect on the probability of being a domestic or a cross-border target, instead it has a positive and highly significant effect in both cases. We find that the main differences between national and international M&As are the characteristics of the countries where the banks operate.     

Economic policy uncertainty and cross-border mergers and acquisitions

We examine the impact of policy uncertainty on cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Using a sample of 23 countries worldwide over the period from 2003 to 2016, we provide evidence that when a country has high policy uncertainty, the volume of inbound acquisition decreases whereas the total number of outbound deals increase significantly. Policy uncertainty also encourages acquirers to use stock as a method of payment and offer lower premium to targets. We also find that the percentage of full control cross-border M&A deals is negatively correlated to the level of policy uncertainty. Further evidence suggests that policy uncertainty complicates the takeover process by increasing the probability of withdrawn and pending deals as well as requiring longer time periods to complete deals.     

The certification role of financial advisors in cross-border M&As

This paper examines the determinants of the choice of financial advisors and their impact on the announcement effects of US acquirers in cross-border M&As. Two hypotheses are tested: one pertains to the certification role of financial advisors, and the other relates to advisors' experience in target countries. Evidence supports the certification hypothesis in the selection of advisors, particularly in all-cash paid transactions where acquirers assume the entire risk of not realizing the expected synergy value. We also observe significantly more favorable shareholder reactions to the choice of US-domiciled advisors and foreign-domiciled advisors actively doing business in US markets. The fact that this positive reaction exists when the chosen US advisors do not have significant experience in the target country suggests how much US acquirers and shareholders value the certification role of financial advisors in cross-border M&As.     

The patterns of cross-border bank mergers and shareholdings in OECD countries

In recent years there has been a surge in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in all sectors of economic activity. Cross-border operations have followed this trend, creating global companies operating in all major world markets. In this paper we study the pattern of cross-border M&As in the banking industry relative to the non-financial sector of the economy and investigate which factors make it more likely that a bank will expand its activities abroad. We find that cross-border M&As are rarer in banking than in other sectors, possibly owing to the importance of information asymmetries in banking relationships and to regulatory restrictions. Using data on almost 2500 banks from 29 OECD countries, we also show that the most significant features of banks with foreign equity interests relate to efficiency: banks with cross-border shareholdings are on average larger, more profitable, and based in countries with a more highly developed banking market.     

Stock market valuation of R&D spending of firms acquiring targets from technologically abundant countries

In this paper, we aim to extend the internalization theory by Buckley and Casson [Buckley, P.J., Casson, M., 1976. The Future of Multinational Enterprise. Holmes & Meier, New York] and Caves [Caves, R.E., 1971. International corporations: the industrial economics of foreign investment. Economica 38, 1–27] in two respects. First, we hypothesize that synergies arising from a technology-oriented cross-border M&A increase the stock market value of an acquirer’s R&D spending. Second, we hypothesize that an acquirer’s access to a country with more favorable R&D environment through the target firm is the main source of synergy arising from intangibles in these M&As. Our empirical results of analyzing data from 10 most R&D active countries in Europe are consistent with these hypotheses and support our extension of the internalization theory. Specifically, we find that multinationality of a firm with intangible assets as such does not add value to R&D, but the combination of its own R&D with that of a firm located in a country with highly favorable R&D environment.     

Do foreign banks increase competition? Evidence from emerging Asian and Latin American banking markets

In this paper we examine the impact of foreign bank penetration on the competitive structure of domestic banking sectors in host emerging economies. We focus our analysis on Asia and Latin America during the period 1997-2008. Using bank-level panel data to identify foreign banks and to estimate measures of banking competition, we are able to provide robust empirical evidence that an increase in foreign bank penetration enhances competition in these host countries’ banking sectors. We find that this positive foreign bank penetration and banking competition link is associated with a spillover effect from foreign banks to their domestic counterparts. This spillover effect becomes stronger when more efficient and less risky foreign banks enter into less concentrated host country markets. We also find that the spillover effect is greater when foreign banks enter in the form of ‘de novo penetration’ than through mergers or acquisitions of domestic banks (‘M&A penetration’).     

Cross-border regulatory enforcement and corporate voluntary disclosure

In this study, we find that foreign firms cross-listed in the US issue significantly more and better-quality management earnings forecasts after their home countries sign the Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Consultation and Cooperation and the Exchange of Information (MMoU), a nonbinding arrangement established by the International Organization of Securities Commissions to enhance the cross-border enforcement of securities laws. Specifically, we find that after the MMoU, relative to their domestic counterparts in the US, foreign firms cross-listed in the US are not only more likely to issue management earnings forecasts but also issue them more frequently. They also tend to issue better-quality earnings forecasts, as measured by lower surprise, higher precision, greater timeliness, more disaggregation, lower optimism and fewer errors. We find that the observed effects of the MMoU signing are stronger for cross-listed firms from countries with weaker institutional environments, resulting in greater enforcement concerns after the MMoU, and for firms with less foreign institutional ownership before the MMoU. Collectively, our findings support the conjecture that after a US-listed foreign firm's home country enters the MMoU, the firm has more incentives to engage in voluntary disclosure due to greater concerns about regulatory enforcement and increased information demand from investors.     

Method of payment and risk mitigation in cross-border mergers and acquisitions

We argue that the method of payment in cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) can mitigate country-level governance risk for the acquirer. We find a greater use of stock as the method of payment in cross-border deals involving targets from countries with high governance risk relative to that in the acquirer's country. This increased use of stock in riskier cross-border deals is consistent with the optimal reaction of the acquirer to avoid overpayment, even though we also show that the use of stock (instead of cash) as the method of payment in cross-border deals is associated with a lower likelihood of deal completion. Furthermore, for more recent periods (i.e., after 2000) we show that the use of stock (cash) has increased (decreased) significantly in cross-border deals, resulting in convergence with the method of payment used in domestic deals.     

Consolidation and value creation in the insurance industry: The role of governance

We examine the long run performance of M&A transactions in the property–liability insurance industry. We specifically investigate whether such transactions create value for the bidders’ shareholders, and assess how corporate governance mechanisms, internal and external, affect such performance. Our results show that M&A create value in the long run as buy and hold abnormal returns are positive and significant after 3 years. While tender offers appear to be more profitable than mergers, our multivariate evidence does not support the conjecture that domestic transactions create more value than cross-border transactions. Furthermore, positive returns are significantly higher for frequent acquirers and in countries where investor protection is weaker. Internal corporate governance mechanisms, such as board independence, and CEO share ownership, are also significant determinants of the long run positive performance of bidders.