There is a widespread understanding that many M&As fail to achieve their set objectives as acquiring companies and acquired companies have different needs and demands. Therefore, this thesis aims to investigate how integration managers support the post-acquisition integration process and what role soft values have when measuring the performance of M&A. There is a large amount of research on M&A. However, there is still lacking research regarding the integration manager's role in the post-acquisition process and the role of soft values when measuring M&A performance. Consequently, researchers have suggested investigating these topics. A qualitative research method has been adopted, and the study's empirical data were collected through nine semi-structured interviews with integration managers. The thesis results show that the majority of the respondents consider that integration managers have an important role in the post-acquisition process and that financial metrics need to be supplemented with soft values. The study aims to contribute to research within M&A, the integration manager’s role, and performance. The most prominent result of the integration manager’s role, which develops previous research with new insights, is that it is important that integration managers develop integration handbooks, arrange "meet and greets," and visit the acquired company's site to handle the employee's uncertainty. Furthermore, the results show that it is important to communicate the change in many different ways, using communication experts and involving managers in the acquired company. The results also indicate that the integration manager needs to establish regular meetings, provide managers in the acquired company with mentors, transfer employees from the acquiring company to the acquired company, and establish knowledge forums to forge social connections within the two companies. The most prominent results of the role of soft values when measuring M&A performance, which develops previous research, is the importance of listening to employees and their opinions regarding the acquisition and measuring staff turnover. Lastly, the study contributes to an increased understanding of how integration managers support the post-acquisition integration process and the importance of soft values when measuring M&A performance.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) can be either “hostile” or “friendly” in nature. This study looks at the corresponding long-term investment performance of “hostile” and “friendly” takeovers within the mining sector, pre and post the takeover of targets, with the aim to investigate whether there are statistically significant differences about which the investor community should be aware.36 months of monthly share price performance, pre and post first formal merger/takeover announcement date, are studied, for each acquirer is compared with the bourse mining index to calculate the percentage time the acquirer outperforms the market (mining index). Research of the major mining stock exchanges of the world – New York, Toronto, Australia, London and Johannesburg – reveals that the investment performances of “hostile” acquiring mining companies, pre first formal announcement date, are statistically significantly greater than post first formal announcement date. No statistically significant difference was found pre and post first announcement date for “friendly” acquiring mining companies. Although clear differences in post first formal announcement date investment performance are noted between “hostile” acquirers and “friendly” acquirers, there is no statistically significant difference between the investment performances of “friendly” versus “hostile” acquirers. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to discuss the reason why international merger and acquisition intensely happened in particular industries? What is the real intention of the merger and acquisition? According to analyzing the M&A cases in Taiwan¡¦s securities investment trust industry, the motivations that international businesses group merged local company are based strategic and market motivations. Because the international business group has advantages to entry Taiwan and the group¡¦s strategy to internalize. Another reason is that the Great China economic region is forming the international business group have to shorten the schedule to acquire the regional advantage. On the other hand, the local company has strongly motivation to merge with international business group. As the result the M&A cases happened.

Google merged Youtube, Microsoft wants to merge Yahoo to compete. ACER declared in October 2007 that it merged the fourth largest computer manufacturer in US: Gateway. Above are the representatives of big merger and acquisition cases. Enterprises grow up through M&A is a trend recently, but are all the M&A cases bringing positive performances? The answer is negative. We can prove that through the cases of BENQ-Siemens and Acer-Counter Point which all ends in failure. Therefore this research reviewed related literatures and focused on the cases that serve Taiwan enterprises as the merger & acquirer between 1997 and 2006. In order to examine whether M&A experiences, types and acquirer¡¦s slack will affect M&A performance or not and to find out whether the factors affecting Taiwan enterprises to conduct M&A are the same with overseas firms or not. This research used multiple-regression model which have five independent variables ¡V M&A times, types, debt ratio, FCF ratio and sale scale. On the other hand, this research utilized 3 dependent variables to compare different point of view on performance, they are unit employee output value, return of total assets and income after taxes. The results show that the hypothesis that M&A experiences and types will have significant impact on M&A performance is rejected. On acquirer¡¦s slack, only sale scope has significant impact on M&A performance. When serving ROA as dependent variable, FCF ratio has significant impact, while others possess insignificant loadings. These results told us that the factors of M&A behaviors in Taiwan are different from overseas firms.

While previous research has primarily focused on post-Merger & Acquisition (M&A) effects, influential factors, which trigger cross-border M&A transactions and whether the level of industry concentration play a key role in making the decision, have been largely neglected in research. This study aims to close this gap in research and investigates the influence of industry concentration on cross-border M&A decisions, including effects of profitability and corporate governance. The studied sample consists of 1105 companies across 48 countries, whereas 533 undertook cross-border M&A transactions across 40 countries. A logistic regression was used to predict the probability of cross-border M&A transactions. The study analyzed the effects on both the complete sample and on M&A companies only. The results indicate that large companies are more likely to undertake cross-border M&A with companies from a different industry in order to spread their level of risk. However, MNCs, which undertake transactions, are less likely to perform more transactions within one year. Over the time of observation the analysis revealed that market share did not change and thus, industries are not getting more concentrated in general, indicating that markets remain competitive. Multinational companies (MNCs), which have a higher market position and are more profitable, are less likely to undertake corporate restructuring, which was partially supported in this analysis. For both samples the findings do not support that the interaction between industry concentration and corporate governance have an influence on cross-border M&A. These findings increase the understanding of the role of industry concentration, profitability and corporate governance and that they do not play a crucial role in making cross-border M&A decisions.

Frågan om parternas hävningsrätt vid aktiebolagsförvärv behandlas sparsamt i den svenska rättsvetenskapliga litteraturen. Den allmängiltiga uppfattningen är att parterna vid aktiebolagsförvärv själva bör reglera hävningsrätten i aktieöverlåtelseavtalet, eftersom de dispositiva lagregler som står till parternas förfogande består av 1990 års köplag (1990:931), vars tillämpning i regel anses illa lämplig vid aktiebolagsförvärv. Även om parterna avtalar bort den dispositiva köplagen och reglerar hävningsrätten i aktieöverlåtelseavtalet, riskerar parterna fortfarande att de allmänna köprättsliga principerna på området anses tillämpliga vid situationer som lämnats oreglerade av parterna. Dessutom anses köprättsliga och avtalsrättsliga principer, som ligger till grund för ovan nämnda lag, alltjämt tillämpliga vid en tolkning av parternas aktieöverlåtelseavtal. Denna masteruppsats redogör för och undersöker parternas hävningsrätt till följd av avtalsbrott, med beaktande av de allmänna köprättsliga reglerna på området, men med hänsyn till de specifika omständigheter som föreligger vid aktiebolagsförvärv. Arbetet har visat sig vara mer omfattande än planerat och en bidragande anledning till detta har varit att det inom ämnet saknas tydliga riktlinjer såväl för parternas förpliktelser som för avtalsbrott, men framför allt för hävningsrätten – arbetet kan på så vis liknas vid att gå från tunn is ut till ännu tunnare is, alltmer ju längre arbetet framskridit. De källor som finns angående aktiebolagsförvärvsrätt tenderar att lyfta fram och behandla det som i de flesta fall redan är klart för parterna, exempelvis parternas garantiförpliktelser och garantibrister, medan andra företeelser såsom abstrakt standard och säljarens upplysningsplikt behandlas sparsamt eller inte alls, vilket även gjort behandlingen av dessa företeelser särskilt besvärligt. Härtill tenderar doktrin att frånse från M&A försäkringen, vilket onekligen är intressant, eftersom försäkringen liksom garantiskrivningar, påverkar riskplaceringen vid aktiebolagsförvärv och även kan visa sig ha inverkan vid hävningspåföljdsbedömningen. Min förhoppning är att uppsatsen i vart fall kan tjäna till att synliggöra de skrymslen och jämförelser som inte tidigare gjorts vad gäller parternas förpliktelser utanför aktieöverlåteseavtalet och vad gäller parternas hävningsrätt vid försäkrade aktiebolagsförvärv samt belysa betydelsen av de allmänna avtalsrättsliga köprättsliga principerna på området, liksom behovet av en djupare diskussion och analys av dessa vid aktiebolagsförvärv.

Examensarbete om culpa in contrahendo vid förhandlingar om företagsförvärv. Fokus på avsiktsförklaring och lojalitetsplikt.

This PhD thesis consists of three essays which are interlinked by two themes - the problem of risk and information asymmetry in cross-border mergers and acquisitions carried out by UK investors. Majority of empirical research in finance, and in particular in mergers and acquisitions focuses on the US outward investments. However, UK investors are the second most active when it comes to international acquisitions. The country's physical proximity to continental Europe and common legal system make UK transactions a particularly interesting dataset. In the first essay we try to understand how UK investors decide in which country to invest. We investigate in which cases increased level of risk and higher information asymmetry are desired by UK investors and find that higher corporate governance standards, more stringent accounting standards and strong creditor and shareholder protection deter investors. Legal system seems to be of no statistical significance indicating that the law of the host country does not fully reflect the level of such standards, while lack of significance of media coverage indicates that investors are not concerned about the public scrutiny. The second paper looks at how increased risk and information asymmetry impact the likelihood of using a contingent payout agreement and if investors always will use this method to reduce the risk of overpaying for the target. The evidence shows that deal-specific features reflecting higher asymmetry of information and risk increase the chances of using an earnout contract. However, cross-border transactions do not involve earnout contracts more often than the domestic ones which is most likely due to potential enforcement issues resulting from different legal systems. The last chapter of this thesis looks at the ways in which the acquirer can structure the transaction to reduce the risk that the offer will be rejected. Our results stress the importance of bilateral negotiations. Although the size of the premium is significant, its importance is fairly negligible when compared with the impact of hostile transactions, competing bids and the inclusions of a termination fee. From the above we can infer that carefully planned bilateral negotiations leading to a high premium would maximise the chances of deal completion. Recapitulating, in this collection of essays we try to answer the questions of how risk and information asymmetry influence UK investors' decision where to invest, how to pay for the target and whom and how to acquire in order to maximise the chances that the transaction will be successfully finalised.

This thesis presents three essays on the motives for mergers and the determinants of U.S. horizontal merger antitrust case selection. These essays contribute to the debate on whether mergers increase social welfare and on the efficiency of antitrust intervention. The first essay explores the market power motive for horizontal mergers by examining the relation between the announcement wealth effects to merging firms and their reliant corporate customers. Large sample studies generally conclude that efficiency considerations drive horizontal mergers and find little market power, which implies a non-negative wealth effect relation between these two parties along the supply chain. When I examine the endogenous stock market reactions to merger announcements with instrumentation, however, my results overturn this inference: I find that greater abnormal returns to merging firms systematically relate to lower abnormal returns to reliant customers. This wealth transfer effect exists for deals in industries with little foreign competition but not for deals in industries with intense foreign competition. These results suggest that increased market power is a key driver of horizontal mergers. In the second essay, I investigate the determinants of U.S. antitrust invention by examining horizontal merger antitrust case selection in the U.S. manufacturing sector during 1980-2009. I find no evidence supporting the consumer protection claim of the government's antitrust agencies. Instead, I find that the likelihood of antitrust intervention is negatively related to foreign import pressure. Hitting a market concentration hurdle criterion also predicts intervention. In addition, industry rivals seem able to exert pressure for antitrust intervention to avoid a competitive disadvantage. I identify two rival groups that account for the demand for antitrust regulation, local rivals and rivals producing less specialised products. The third essay examines the motives for related mergers from the perspective of product market similarity. Using Hoberg and Phillips' (2014) text-based product similarity measure, I find that when an acquirer's product is more similar to those of its rivals, a related merger results in a greater post-merger product price and lower market share for the combined firm. Moreover, for related mergers in more homogenous product markets, the stock market reactions to the merger announcement are higher for the combined firm and for product market rivals, but lower for reliant corporate customers. Overall, the evidence on both product market real performance and stock market reactions is consistent with the wealth transfer effect of related mergers, and suggests that the primary motive for firms to merge with product market competitors is to gain market power rather than to achieve efficiencies.

The forming of M-shape Society changes the consume structure, and causes the fashion industry arisen. With the wave of acquisition in fashion industry in the 90¡¦s, now it has become only several fashion groups survive in the industry instead of numerous private independent companies. It¡¦s attractive for the companies to benefit from the connect effect of multi-brand coalition and single star brand. Therefore, we choose LVMH (Louis Vuitton - Moët Hennessy), a leading group in fashion industry, as the example in this thesis to analyze the M&A strategy of fashion groups. There are three issues we would like to discuss in this thesis: 1.To find out the motives and purpose of M&A strategy of fashion groups. 2.To find out how fashion groups choose the M&A objectives. 3.To understand what¡¦s the synergy that fashion groups pursue. Several important finding are as follow: 1.The motives of M&A strategies are enlarging the scope, entering new market and acquiring the resources and techniques. 2.Fashion groups value the brands with heritage, but acquire energy by the innovative brands. 3.The advantage of fashion group is the closed relationship between brands and the groups, and this can strengthen the position of each other in consumer mind. 4.Fashion brands depend on the star brands to operation effectively. Star brands are also the key factor to induce the synergy and the function of resources sharing.