Bidder-Specific Synergies and the Evolution of Acquirer Returns
研究发现过去四十年收购方平均回报基本不变，但背后隐藏着市场结构变化：收购方回报的共同部分上升了5个百分点，而竞标方特定部分下降，这反映了协同效应越来越不依赖于特定竞标方。
Largely constant average acquirer returns over the past four decades mask fundamental changes in the takeover market. Controlling for bidder composition, the common component of acquirer returns has increased by five percentage points relative to the 1980s. Offsetting this increase, the average bidder-specific component has declined. We propose a theory of bidder-specific synergies to help interpret these opposing trends. In our theory and in the data, acquirer returns increase with the extent to which synergies are unique to that bidder. The composition effect reflects bidder uniqueness. Overall, the evidence is consistent with rising merger synergies that have become less bidder specific. This paper was accepted by Victoria Ivashina, finance. Funding: A. Golubov acknowledges financial support from the Bank of Canada [Governor’s Award]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.02208 .