WHY PAY MORE - WORLD EVIDENCE ON M&A BID PREMIUM DETERMINANTS

Abstract

Corporate mergers and acquisitions represent one of the most dynamic fields in the world of the business finance. These remarkably complex transactions success may vary depending on the economic and institutional environments in which the transactions are performed. This paper investigates the information content of the bid premium determined in the M&A transactions and focuses on the identification of significant differences in its amount depending on: (1) the observed timeframe (width of the event window observed relative to the moment of the transaction announcement); (2) current equity market trends (3) institutional environments and the degree of the economic development of the countries in which the transaction participants operate; and (4) selected payment method and motive for entering the transaction in regard to space and time dimensions of bid premium. Examining the sample of 783 merger and acquisition transactions at the global economy level, the research explores the importance and range of time and space determinants of bid premiums in M&A transactions.

Our results confirm that bid premium carries significant information and that is highly dependent on the observed timeframe, i.e. we find evidence of information “leakage” prior to transaction announcement and sluggish adaptation to expected value creation due to market characteristics, level of economic development of countries in which M&As are operated and specific transaction characteristics such as payment method and motive for participating in such transaction. The paper shows that the results can often differ depending on whether the analysis includes dominant trends in the most important capital markets.