The performance of UK firms acquiring large cross-border and domestic takeover targets

M. S. B. Aw and R. A. Chatterjee

Applied Financial Economics, 2004, vol. 14, issue 5, 337-349

Abstract: This paper focuses upon cross-border acquisitions. A three-way comparison is made between the post-takeover performance of UK acquirers of domestic UK, US, and Continental European targets between 1991 and 1996. This study examines if UK firms acquiring large takeover targets experience cumulative abnormal returns significantly different from zero up to two years after the acquisition. This study finds that UK firms acquiring large takeover targets experience negative cumulative abnormal returns over the period examined, at various significance levels. Furthermore, the study finds that the post-takeover performance of UK firms acquiring UK targets is superior to that of UK firms acquiring US targets. In turn, the performance of UK firms acquiring US targets is better than that of UK firms acquiring Continental European targets. If this trend continues, the consequences for institutional investors and pension funds, which respond to a major takeover by increasing their holdings in the acquirer, could be serious. The shares they are buying are the very companies we show to be underperforming. And the particularly poor performance of UK companies acquiring in Europe suggests that this anomaly may become even more significant as European cross-border activity gathers pace.

Date: 2004
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DOI: 10.1080/0960310042000211605

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