This thesis investigates abnormal returns for 60 Swedish acquiring firms within multipleindustries during a stock market peak. The research is limited to 2021, a year in which theM&A market saw an upswing in the number of transactions and volumes. Moreover, theconducted study will compare numerous deal and firm characteristics to determine if they arerelated to market performance. Our findings indicate that no substantial abnormal returns werefound for Swedish acquiring firms during the event. In contrast to prior international findings,our research concludes that large firms perform better than small. In addition, a significantrelationship between abnormal return and Tobin’s Q was discovered, indicating that a firm’sover- or undervaluation characteristics affect the stock market performance of acquirers.

Abstract Master Thesis (4FE18E), Master of Science in Business and Economics, School of Business and Economics at Linnaeus University in Växjö, Spring 2023 Titel: The CFO’s role for a successful acquisition A qualitative study of business leadership in the acquisition process Background & problem: An acquisition is created when a company buys another company through a negotiation that meets certain technical, financial and legal criterias. There are three different types of acquisitions which are horizontal, vertical and cross-border, all of which have different purposes and underlying motives. There are many factors that affect an acquisition process because the process is so complex, long and difficult. Some factors are more obvious than others and some are more studied than others. Among other things, humanistic factors are mentioned such as changes in management or company culture, relations and interaction between different roles or how tasks such as creating the strategy behind the acquisition have their impacts. The role of a CFO can be divided into three roles, which are Merger Strategist, Synergy Manager and Business Integrator. Or it can be said that a CFO's role in the acquisition process will be a driving role or participating role in pretty much all parts of the acquisition process, from the start of the process to its end. An acquisition usually aims to result in synergy effects, which can be divided into two categories, financial synergies and operational synergies. Acquisitions can be considered unsuccessful in the sense that the expected synergy effects after the acquisition have not been successfully realized. Many have a skeptical view of mergers and acquisitions and believe instead that companies on their own already are as efficient as they can be and that an acquisition would not increase this efficiency. However, several aspects still speak in favor of carrying out business acquisitions, and Sacui & Maticiuc believe that it is a much more efficient and faster way to create growth and competitive advantages than relying only on organic growth. However, some researchers and experts in the field still believe that historically they have witnessed many acquisitions but not as many with a successful outcome. More research and more people interested in the subject came in the 1980s, but still the number of successful acquisitions around the world has not changed since then. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to map the CFO's role and importance in acquisition processes, as well as to describe and analyze factors that can affect the implementation and outcome of the acquisition, to finally arrive at a conclusion for how a CFO can handle these factors in their leadership role. Method: The study's research approach is based on a qualitative multiple-case study that has been created with a deductive approach with inductive elements. The study is also based primarily on a semi-structured interview form but also parts of a more open interview form, this in order to achieve the flexibility and mobility for the respondents to shape their answers in their own ways. The study's respondents have been formed according to a goal-directed selection based on certain criteria, criteria shaped by the study's purpose and questions. Criteria that were followed for this study's selection were for the financial directors only their professional role, for other roles they were that they either work closely with their financial director or that they were extremely involved in the company's acquisition process. Results & conclusion: The study results in how a finance director can work in all phases of an acquisition process and in what way this gives importance to the success of the acquisition. The result also shows how the CFO throughout the acquisition will have an important role, while at the same time it will shift in size and importance. The study's conclusion will land in three aspects with the aim of highlighting the importance of understanding the competence profile created for a finance director in the acquisition process, shedding light on the important and decisive strategy work and in an understanding that all acquisitions need a situational approach and that this study therefore does not can be fully applied to all types of acquisition processes.

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This dissertation, empirically examines ownership structure and its impacts on shareholder wealth. In the first chapter I examine the relation between ownership structure and M&A target selection when family firms purse acquisitions, focusing on the factors that influence family selection of targets. My results indicate that family firm acquirers select targets that are smaller and have low growth potential. I focus on short- and long-run stock market reactions to merger and acquisition announcements of family versus nonfamily bidders and their associated targets. I find that acquirers with family ownership have better cumulative average abnormal returns in the short run and higher buy-and-hold abnormal returns up to one year after the acquisition. Family firms also take a greater share of the merger synergy than do nonfamily bidders while the overall merger synergy is invariant to ownership structure. These results suggest that family firms pick different targets than nonfamily firms and benefit minority shareholders when they acquire. This chapter provides evidence that family ownership does not destroy value during M&A transactions; instead, the analysis indicates that family owners appear to choose better targets. In the second chapter I examine firms with dual class structures. Firms with limited voting shares, dual class firms, persist over time in spite of the widespread view that they embody a “corruption of the governance system” (Calpers, 2011). I find that founders and their heirs control 89% of dual class firms, making it difficult to disentangle family control and voting rights. I document that family owners hold 30% greater economic exposure in dual class firms than in single class family firms. Investors place lower values on both single and dual class family firms relative to non-family firms. In contrast, non-family dual class firms exhibit a 19% premium relative to single class firms. Further analysis shows that 8 industries contain 58% of these limited voting share firms - industries that require high brand maintenance and intangible assets. Strikingly, I find that outside shareholders of dual class firms earn excess returns of about 350 basis points per year relative to single class nonfamily firms. Additional tests reveal that institutional investors hold more of the floated equity of dual class family firms than found in single class nonfamily firms. Exploring a succession risk premium perspective, I discover these lower values and greater excess returns primarily occur in descendent-controlled firms. Overall, my analysis suggests that limited voting shares provide an important mechanism used by controlling shareholders that arise in industries with specific characteristics. / Business Administration/Finance

<p>Abstract</p><p>Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) have been around for a long time and has experienced waves of popularity during these times and they are very much an important part of today’s business world. M&As have also become increasingly international which can be due to the rising global competition. The popularity of cross-border M&As makes it important to look at M&As from an international perspective. One of the main reasons a company choose to M&A is growth (Lees, 2003) and there are several possible motives why a company chooses to grow through an M&A but the most common motive is to create synergy (DePhamphilis, 2005). Although synergy is one motive, according to the literature more M&As destroy value instead of creating it (Habeck, et al. 2000). This makes this subject interesting to study: especially the post-M&A phase since the integration process in this phase has been pointed out to be the riskiest, when creating synergy, but also the most crucial in order for a successful M&A (Habeck, et al. 2000; Shaver, 2006).</p><p>Purpose:</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how the management of a company create and realize synergies in the post-M&A process of a cross-border M&A.</p><p>Method:</p><p>In order to fulfil the purpose the case study approach was chosen. The empirical data was gathered through semi-structured face-to–face (except two telephone) interviews. This approach was used because the information needed to fulfil the purpose was of the character to be found in a qualitative way by going in-depth into the field of interest with a management team with extensive knowledge in this subject.</p><p>Conclusion:</p><p>Creating and realizing synergies is a long process on average 5-10 years. There is no manual for the M&A process only a general approach and each M&A process is customized. It was found that one cannot separate the pre-deal phase from the post-phase. An M&A process includes three different important parts; the strategic intent phase, the due diligence phase, and finally the integration phase. Key success factors for conducting an M&A are that you set up a special management group which will focus on the creation and realisation of synergies and that one focus on motivating and assisting managers through offer new exiting challenges.</p>

Abstract Mergers and Acquisitions (M&amp;A) have been around for a long time and has experienced waves of popularity during these times and they are very much an important part of today’s business world. M&amp;As have also become increasingly international which can be due to the rising global competition. The popularity of cross-border M&amp;As makes it important to look at M&amp;As from an international perspective. One of the main reasons a company choose to M&amp;A is growth (Lees, 2003) and there are several possible motives why a company chooses to grow through an M&amp;A but the most common motive is to create synergy (DePhamphilis, 2005). Although synergy is one motive, according to the literature more M&amp;As destroy value instead of creating it (Habeck, et al. 2000). This makes this subject interesting to study: especially the post-M&amp;A phase since the integration process in this phase has been pointed out to be the riskiest, when creating synergy, but also the most crucial in order for a successful M&amp;A (Habeck, et al. 2000; Shaver, 2006). Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how the management of a company create and realize synergies in the post-M&amp;A process of a cross-border M&amp;A. Method: In order to fulfil the purpose the case study approach was chosen. The empirical data was gathered through semi-structured face-to–face (except two telephone) interviews. This approach was used because the information needed to fulfil the purpose was of the character to be found in a qualitative way by going in-depth into the field of interest with a management team with extensive knowledge in this subject. Conclusion: Creating and realizing synergies is a long process on average 5-10 years. There is no manual for the M&amp;A process only a general approach and each M&amp;A process is customized. It was found that one cannot separate the pre-deal phase from the post-phase. An M&amp;A process includes three different important parts; the strategic intent phase, the due diligence phase, and finally the integration phase. Key success factors for conducting an M&amp;A are that you set up a special management group which will focus on the creation and realisation of synergies and that one focus on motivating and assisting managers through offer new exiting challenges.

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This thesis deals with the subject of mergers and acquisitions in the information and communication technologies industry. The first part contains general definition and classification of mergers and acquisitions and defines the generic process of mergers and acquisitions both theoretically and with practical suggestions. The second part includes the particularities of the information and communication technologies industry itself and an analysis of world-wide and Czech Republic’s transactional data.

Do renminbi (RMB) exchange rate fluctuations affect cross-border M&A activities of enterprises at the micro level? This paper centers on this major issue, and we study and analyze the impacts of RMB internationalization on the magnitude and success of cross-border M&As. We investigate the impacts of exchange rate changes on the magnitude and success of enterprise-level cross-border M&As by developing nominal exchange rate (NER) and real exchange rate (RER) volatility indicators using data from the Thomson Financial SDC Platinum Merger and Acquisitions database. By applying a variety of indicators and subsample estimates in the study, we find that exchange rate volatility (of either NER or RER) is significantly negatively correlated with enterprise-level cross-border M&As, suggesting that RMB exchange rate movements deter cross-border M&As to some extent; fluctuations in RMB exchange rate have a significant negative impact on the success of cross-border M&As, and the exchange rate risk induced by exchange rate changes increases the risk of cross-border M&As; meanwhile, exchange rate fluctuations have a significant inhibitory effect on conglomerate M&As in addition to horizontal cross-border M&As. In addition, exchange rate fluctuations have a significant inhibitory effect on the profit-oriented cross-border M&As of enterprises in non-state-owned-or-controlled industries. Therefore, we should take prudent actions to prevent the impacts of RMB exchange rate movements on cross-border M&As, actively tap the potential of bilateral investment treaties in securing cross-border M&As, promote coordination between RMB exchange rate regulation iimechanisms and the “go global” strategy, and improve the level of internationalization and competitiveness of Chinese enterprises. / Business Administration/Finance