Sources of Gains in Corporate Mergers: Refined Tests from a Neglected Industry
研究了公用事业行业并购收益的来源，通过分析竞争对手股票回报和消费者价格，发现并购收益主要来自协同效应而非合谋。
Abstract Our work provides refined tests of the source of merger gains in a neglected industry: utilities. Utilities offer fertile ground for analysis of traditional theories: synergy, collusion, hubris, and anticipation. Utility mergers create wealth for the combined firm, consistent with both the synergy and collusion hypotheses. To distinguish between these hypotheses, we study rival stock returns across dimensions related to collusion: deregulation, geography, and horizontal and withdrawn deals. We also find that the impact of mergers on consumer prices is consistent with synergy rather than collusion. Analysis of industry rivals that become targets also rejects collusion and is consistent with anticipation.