Acquisitions are a major part of the growth and evolution of companies within varying markets. They are conducted under various circumstances with differing aims and rationales, and for different purposes. This thesis focuses on acquisitions carried out by serial investors acting in a private equity market. These acquisitions are characterised by a highly competitive nature, where access to a large pipeline of potential targets is believed to be a key success factor. As such, deal origination and sourcing of potential targets become important factors to facilitate a high-paced deal flow. Earlier research suggests that this is well researched with regards to venture capital, but to a large extent lacking within private equity. This thesis analyses and discusses the possibility of systematising early evaluation of potential acquisition targets within private equity. The aim is to suggest a framework that may be utilised, consisting of the criteria deemed important for early evaluation. Through utilising multi criteria decision making, the framework allows for a relative importance between criteria to contribute to assessment, while fuzzy set theory allows for a degree of uncertainty to be incorporated. This thesis is conducted through data collection from a number of professionals within private equity, selected from a non-probability sample. Semi-structured interviews and a 3 pairwise comparison is utilised to allow for analysis and discussion with regards to earlier research and theory, while allowing for comparison between respondents. The results of the thesis indicate that utilising a framework for early evaluation of potential targets may be beneficial. The key dimensions to consider are financial, commercial and market capabilities. However, the criteria constituting the dimensions may be firm or industry specific. / Förvärv är en viktig del av tillväxten och utvecklingen av företag i en rad olika marknader. De genomförs under varierande förutsättningar med olika mål och avsikter, och med olika syften. Denna uppsats fokuserar på förvärv utförda av serieinvesterare på en riskkapitalsmarknad. Dessa förvärv karaktäriseras av en konkurrensutsatt marknad, där tillgång till en bred pipeline av potentiella förvärvsmöjligheter förväntas vara en viktig framgångsfaktor. Således är hantering av leadsgenerering och sourcing av möjliga förvärvsobjekt viktiga faktorer för att främja ett aktivt förvärvsflöde. Tidigare forskning tyder på att detta är ett välutforskat område inom venture capital, men saknas i stor utsträckning inom riskkapital. Denna uppsats analyserar och diskuterar möjligheten att systematisera tidig utvärdering av potentiella förvärvsobjekt inom riskkapital. Avsikten är att föreslå ett ramverk som kan användas, bestående av de kriteria som anses viktiga vid tidig utvärdering. Genom att använda multi criteria decision making möjliggör ramverket en relativ betydelse mellan kriterier att påverka bedömningen, medan fuzzy set-teori möjliggör för en grad av osäkerhet att inkorporeras. Denna uppsats utförs genom datainsamling från ett antal yrkesverksamma inom riskkapital, utvalda från en icke-sannolikhetsprovtagning. Semi-strukturerade intervjuer och en parvis 5 jämförelse används för analys och diskussion i relation till tidigare forskning och teori, och tillåter även jämförelse mellan svarande. Resultaten av denna uppsats indikerar att användande av ett ramverk för tidig utvärdering av potentiella förvärvsobjekt kan vara positiv. De viktigaste dimensionerna att ta i beaktning är finansiella, kommersiella och marknadsmässiga förmågor. Kriterierna som utgör dessa dimensioner kan dock vara bolags- eller industrispecifika.

隨著國內企業的成長，以及商業競爭的國際化，併購已成為企業在維持及增加成長幅度時考慮的主要策略之一。過往的文獻對於企業成長理論有相當多的研究，經理人在成長歷程中的角色也被深度討論。另一方面，許多學者針對併購的動機進行討論，其中又以綜效、經理人自利與過度自信經理人為最被廣泛認可的併購動機。 　　雖然過去已經有非常多文獻分別針對企業成長理論與併購動機理論深入研究，但少有文獻對於兩者的關係進行研究，尤其未有文獻對台灣企業的情況進行研究。為了理解台灣企業的成長與併購之間的關係，本研究以台灣2008年至2014年以台灣企業為主併企業之併購案作為研究樣本，藉由統計迴歸的量化研究，釐清企業成長之速度對於併購行為之影響，解釋企業併購機率、併購股數、國際化併購與成功機率等併購相關變數。 　　本研究分別以營業收入及資產總額來衡量企業成長，發現在兩種衡量方法下，企業成長越快的企業皆越可能進行併購。但營業收入成長越快的企業，越可能併購國外的企業；資產總額成長越快的企業，則是在併購時會購入越多標的企業之股票。結果顯示，企業成長確實會增加併購的機率，但若企業有不同的成長模式，也會導致併購行為上的差異。 / With the growing of firms in Taiwan and the internalization of commercial competition, merger and acquisition (M&A) have become one of the main strategies that firms consider when they want to keep growing. Previous studies have done a lot of research of firm growth and managers’ role on the path of growth. The antecedent of M&A has been discussed widely as well. Synergy, managerialism and hubris are the most recognized antecedents of M&A in these studies. Although there were a large number of studies concerning firm growth and antecedents of M&A, few focused on the relationship between them, especially none was about Taiwan’s situation. With the sample of M&A cases of Taiwanese firms from 2008 to 2014, this study examines the relationship between firm growth and antecedents of merger. This study uses regression model to analysis the impact of firm growth rate on M&A behavior. Furthermore, M&A related variables such as probability of M&A, equity bought, international M&A percentage and success rate are explained in this study. Two methods are used in this study to measure firm growth: sales revenue and total assets. The regression result shows that firms with higher growth rates are more likely to participate in M&A activities in both methods. While firms with higher sales growth tend to merge more foreign companies, firms with higher assets growth tend to buy more equity in M&As. To sum up, firm growth increase the probability of M&A activity. But different growth patterns can lead to variation of M&A behavior as well.

This thesis examines the link between mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and corporate financial leverage. The thesis proposes and tests various hypotheses regarding: (1) the relationship between the probability of firms undertaking M&As and corporate financial leverage; and (2) the changes in financial leverage prior to firms' decision to initiate M&As. The empirical evidence on the proposed hypotheses is based on a large sample of firms in the UK during the period 1996 and 2006. The empirical analysis presented in this study contributes to the large and growing body of literature on the interdependence of corporate financing and investment decisions. Specifically, this study contributes to the literature in two ways. First, the thesis investigates the link between firms leverage deviations (i.e. the deviations of firms observed leverage ratios from target leverage ratios) and the probability of undertaking M&As in the future. Building upon the earlier literature, it is argued that extreme leverage deviations lower the probability of undertaking M&As by impairing firms ability to raise capital to finance these deals. The study s empirical analyses suggest that extremely overleveraged firms have lower probability of undertaking M&As. Moreover, the link between extreme overleverage and the probability of undertaking M&As is weaker for diversification-increasing acquisitions (i.e. deals in which the acquirer and the target firm operate in different industries); for domestic acquisitions (i.e. deals in which the acquirer and the target firm are domiciled in the same country); and for focused (i.e. single-segment) firms undertaking acquisitions. Thus, the leverage deviation effect is not symmetric for all types of acquisitions and for all firms. Second, the thesis examines how the pre-acquisition changes in corporate financial leverage may be influenced by: (1) the extent to which firms deviate from their target leverage ratios; and (2) firms intentions to initiate M&As. Key empirical findings in this section suggest that firms that have higher leverage deviations adjust their leverage at a higher rate than those with lower deviations. More importantly, the empirical evidence suggests that firms that undertake M&As adjust their pre-acquisition leverage at a higher rate than those that do not. These findings suggest that, when making adjustments to corporate capital structure, managers tend to consider their firms leverage deviations and their future acquisition plans. Furthermore, the study s findings partly explain the differences in the speeds of financial leverage adjustments reported in the existing literature.

<p>Bakgrund: De svenska börsbolagen gör större vinster än någonsin tidigare, men har fått stor kritik för att vara för långsamma i sin vinstallokering. Företag med överkapitaliserade balansräkningar utan investeringsbehov är potentiella måltavlor för riskkapitalisternas affärsidé om finansiell effektivisering och en aggressivare kapitalstruktur. Debatten i media har skapat kritik kring dessa så kallade kortsiktiga och giriga bolagsplundrare som påstås förstöra finansiella värden och kreditvärdigheten i företagen. I tidigare fall har marknaden svarat positivt på riskkapitalisternas investeringar, något som har reflekterats i ett kraftigt ökande aktiepris. Skeptiker hävdar dock att spekulationer är anledningen till att marknadsvärdet drivs upp, inte fundamentala aspekter.</p><p>Syfte: Syftet med denna magisteruppsats är att fastställa en bild av fenomenet riskkapital och hur dess aktiva ägande inverkar på svenska börsbolags kreditbetyg, kapitalstruktur och värdering.</p><p>Metod: För att uppnå syftet med vår magisteruppsats har en kvalitativ ansats till-lämpats baserad på tre börsbolag där riskkapitalisters aktiva ägande spelat en betydande roll. Det empiriska materialet har insamlats genom personliga intervjuer med aktie- och kreditanalytiker, och studien förlitar sig även på markandsdata, artiklar och nyhetssändningar i media, samt respektive bolags kvartals- och årsrapporter.</p><p>Slutsats: Studien har gjorts over den tidsperiod som varit riskkapitalisternas inve-steringshorisont – explicit och implicit. Genom att analysera det aktiva ägarskapet i tre svenska börsbolag kan slutsatsen dras att det inverkat positivt i form av högre prestanda och marknadsvärdering. De finansiella förändringarna har, till skillnad från kritiken, styrkt kreditbetyget i fallen Lindex och Volvo. En analys av Skandia/Old Mutual visade dock en marginellt ökad kreditrisk. Slutsatsen visar härmed att riskkapitalisternas inverkan på svenska börsbolag är värdeförädlande utan att äventyra den finansiella statusen.</p> / <p>Background: The Swedish blue chip companies are performing better than ever, but have been strongly criticised for being too slow in their excess fund allocation. Companies with overcapitalised balance sheets and no investment needs are potential targets for activist funds’ business idea of more aggressive capital structures and financial restructuring. In media, this debate has raised criticism against these so called short-sighted, greedy asset-strippers that destroy company values and increase the companies’ risk of default. In prior cases where activist funds have taken actions, the market has responded positively through increasing the share price. However, sceptics argue that the higher share price is merely a response to a speculative reaction with no fundamental argument supporting the upgrade in market capitalisation.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to establish a view of the phenomenon of activist funds and their impact on blue chip companies’, listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, credit rating, capital structure and valuation.</p><p>Method: To fulfil the purpose of our master thesis, a qualitative approach has been applied based on three cases involving the activities of activist funds. The empirical findings have been retrieved via personal communications with stock- and credit analysts, and the study also relies on articles and news coverage from media, stock market data and annual reports from each of the chosen companies respectively.</p><p>Conclusion: The study has regarded the period of time which has been the investment horizon of the activist funds – explicitly and implicitly. Analysing their active ownership, the conclusion can be drawn that these activist funds have clearly had a positive impact on each of the blue chip companies’ performance and intrinsic value respectively. The financial restructuring has - contrarily to the criticism – strengthened the credit ratings in the cases of Lindex and Volvo. In the Skandia/Old Mutual-case, a marginally higher default risk was detected. Thus, the study has concluded that activist funds indeed add significant shareholder value without jeopardising the companies’ financial statuses.</p>

Since the late 1980s in most European countries the public sector has been characterized by ongoing privatization/liberalization strategies. Challenges related to this development are the merging of public institutions or units, the (re)creation of efficient processes, the increase in revenues, and the balancing between public service obligation and private sector competition. Approaching a case of a large Austrian company in the public health sector with a mixed methods design (narrative interviews, surveys), three major changes could be identified: a) breaking the bottleneck - development of processes, tools and awareness, b) reduction and regulation - ongoing business integration, and c) the good, the bad and the ugly - changing roles and status of clients, employees and managers. Organizational cultural subgroups relevant to the case are functional, occupational, geographical, political and structural subgroups. The political and the structural subgroups are fairly new dimensions in M&A research. The different subgroups identified show different resource dependencies, define perceptions about the ongoing changes and related approaches to change, face different organizational strategies and professional challenges. This explorative case study contributes to the understanding of developments of the public sector and related types of organisations. It provides practical recommendations for successful integration processes and managerial action. Approaching the case with the model of organizational culture challenges organisational cultural theory. New constructs relevant to change management are combined and a contribution to the field of mixed method M&A studies is made. (author's abstract)

There is a paradoxical realism as the number of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&amp;As) increases on a global scale, despite the fact that organizations’ failure rate to generate the expected value from these cross-border M&amp;As remains high. Researchers have argued that these failures have been connected to the post-merger integration (PMI) process in which multiple challenges are imposed. However, the findings within the area are both limited and scattered, and researchers have emphasized the need to enhance the understanding of how different sociocultural factors impact the integration process of merging organizations in an international context.   Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate how sociocultural factors impact the PMI process in cross-border M&amp;As. The empirical data was collected through a qualitative multiple case study from a Swedish company that has conducted numerous cross-border M&amp;As. Four acquisitions in different international settings were examined, and 16 interviews were carried out with employees from both the case company and the acquired firms.   The findings demonstrate that sociocultural factors on four different levels need to be considered; national, company, team and individual. Interestingly, the findings highlight that there is no apparent connection concerning the level of psychic distance between national cultures and the challenges imposed in the PMI process, as previously suggested by research. However, national culture still matters, but this study suggests that the most substantial impact on the PMI process derives from sociocultural factors on a company cultural level. This is surprising as most research on culture has been focusing on the national level, and this suggests that future research should shift focus to incorporate and investigate additional levels of culture as well.

There is a paradox in the literature where the amount of cross-border M&amp;As are increasing, even though there is a high volume of unsuccessful cross-border M&amp;As. According to researchers, it can be due to lack of knowledge regarding the knowledge transfer process. Therefore, this study aims to grasp the technological knowledge transfer process and how enablers and constraints influence it during the post-acquisition phase. To fulfil the aim, data was collected through a qualitative case study where eight interviews were held with managersand non-managerial employees that had an important role in the studied technological knowledge transfer process. In addition, case documents were provided by the case company and a site visit was conducted. The results indicate that the technological knowledge transfer process is complex and dynamic, making it difficult to distinguish different phases as they overlap. The results also show that the technological knowledge transfer process is influencedby certain enablers and constraints, which in turn either facilitate or challenge the process. However, the enablers and constraints can vary depending on if the perspective of the senderor receiver of knowledge is applied.

No description available.

Topic of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is popular both in academia and financial circles and press. A great deal of research has been focused on the value creation side of M&A deals, nonetheless factors influencing the particular method of payment used in M&A transactions are equally interesting. This thesis focuses on number of factors influencing the choice of medium of exchange in M&A deals with European Union domiciled bidders. Using Bayesian model averaging and a relatively new dataset of transactions announced between 2010 and 2018, the analysis finds several bidder, target and deal specific characteristics to be of a provable effect on the choice of payment. Finally, several enhancements and research questions for a further research are identified.

Health system mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have increased exponentially in recent years as a result of the Affordable Care Act (Brown, Werling, Walker, Burgdorfer & Shields, 2012). M&As are consummated as a way to control for interdependencies within the market, control costs and leverage debt, and negotiate better rates among health insurers (Bolman & Deal, 2013; Cooper & Finkelstein, 2010; Mirc, 2013). Regardless of the impetus for a merger, the largest predictor of the success or failure of a M&A lies within the organizational culture (Brown, et al., 2012; Cooper & Finkelstein, 2010; Kastor, 2010; Ovseiko, Melham, Fowler & Buchan, 2015). The purpose of this research was to assess the organizational culture of two competing health organizations prior to a planned merger and understand whether there were significant differences in pre-merger culture compared to a post-merger preferred organizational culture using the Competing Values Framework (CVF). The population included all employees of both health systems with the survey respondent sample stratified by the following employee types: (Tier 1), entry-level employee; (Tier 2), supervisory level, and, (Tier 3), executive level. Statistical procedures included independent t tests, one-way and two-way analyses of variance. Findings indicated a statistically significant difference existed between the current cultures of the health systems prior to the merger; however, both systems sets of employees preferred a post-merger organizational culture that was not statistically different from each other. Further, there were significant differences in the cultural perceptions of Tier 1 employees and Tier 2 employees and no significant differences between Tier 3 employee perceptions of culture as compared to Tier 1 or Tier 2.