Securities Data Company and Zephyr, data sources for M&A research

Helen Bollaert and Marieke Delanghe

Journal of Corporate Finance, 2015, vol. 33, issue C, 85-100

Abstract: We carry out an in-depth analysis of two mergers and acquisitions (M&A) databases: Securities Data Company M&A (SDC) by Thomson Reuters and Zephyr by Bureau Van Dijk (BvD). Our aim is to assess the quality of their information and their suitability for different types of research questions. Our results suggest that overall, SDC has the edge due to two key shortcomings in Zephyr: the continuous overwriting of firm-level data and inaccuracies in announcement dates. However, our analyses also reveal some weaknesses in SDC and show that for some specific research questions, notably relating to the vendor or to acquisitions involving multiple acquirers and targets, Zephyr seems more suitable than SDC.

Keywords: Mergers; Acquisitions; Methods; Databases; Abnormal returns (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C81 G30 G34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (41)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:corfin:v:33:y:2015:i:c:p:85-100

DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2015.05.005

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