This thesis examines the impact of policy-induced consolidation on banks' performance. The Nigerian bank consolidation of 2004/5 was one of the regulatory reforms initiated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to tackle the country's deteriorating and weak banking sector by increasing the equity capital of banks and with the aim of making the banks more robust and resilient to shocks. This study utilises Impact evaluation technique to measure the effect of the policy intervention in the banking market, using the data of the Nigeria banks and banking industry from 2000 to 2010. Banks' performance were analysed based on eight performance indicators that served as bench marks with which the degree of success of bank consolidation policy were measured. The eight indicators are thus tied to the policy objectives which primarily are to enhance the bank's profitability, efficiency and riskiness. The measure of change in bank performance post-policy provides some informative evidence about the impact of the policy intervention. Methods of assessment therefore measure the change in performance of the banks (broadly classified into 3 distinct groups based on their mode of consolidation) in the post-policy period and compare it with their pre-policy performance, examining the trends and changes and making inferences based on appropriate statistical tests. Our analysis provides evidence that the policy-induced consolidation through bank recapitalisation has significant impact on most of the banks' performances. We find that policy effect on banks' performance is mixed; while some outcomes are in accordance with the policy objectives of enhancing profitability, efficiency and riskiness of the banks, others are contrary to the objectives. Some results also suggest that the policy did not have significant effect on the banks' performance. The research findings underscore the importance of time in measuring 3 performance change, as well as mode of consolidation, as they influence bank performance and determine the extent to which possible gain from consolidation would be realised and by extension the policy objectives achieved. This is because, apart from mode of consolidation, the policy effects on bank's performances were found to be largely affected by time, that is, whether the assessment is short term or medium term. For instance, the effect of the policy in all the banking group's risk performance indicators within the first two years (short-term) post-policy, was found to be positive (improved), while the policy effect changed significantly and adversely when the measurement was extended to five years post-policy period (medium term). Similarly, our results indicate that the policy effects on the banking group's performances differ substantially. Other factors also shown to influence the policy effects on banks' performances include: bank ownership, size and the number of banking firms in a consolidated bank. However, we find strong evidence that contrary to the general notion that bank consolidation leads to concentration of market, Nigeria policy-induced bank consolidation did not result in concentrated market rather it lowered banking market concentration, because it created relatively equal-sized banks in the post-policy period. Also we are able to distinguish in our analysis between the changes in banks performance that were as a result of the policy from the changes that would have occurred anyway, by estimating the change in performance in the post-policy as a result of persistence of banks performance in the pre-policy period, and this was found to be positive and statistically significant especially for the standalone and the merged group's profit returns.

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

This thesis analyses the Monopolies and Mergers Commission's investigations of referred bids over the period 1974-84. The purposes of undertaking this study were as follows. First, to discuss the practice of merger policy and the framework within which it has been set. Second, to compare this with the theoretical and empirical debates which have been developing in relation to mergers and merger policy. Third, to analyse the extent to which a predictive model could be constructed so that significant elements of the public interest may be identified. It was shown that it is official policy to give mergers, in general, the benefit of the doubt. This is inspite of the fact that most of the evidence involving merger activity has tended to be critical of their impact. In addition, it also appears that market discipline does not drive merger activity. In terms of interpreting the Monopolies and Mergers Commission's reports, probit analysis was unable to identify elements of the public interest which appeared to be consistently important to the Commission. In addition, univariate and multivariate analysis showed that it was virtually impossible to distinguish between raiders and targets. Thus, as it stands, merger policy does not provide meaningful, or clear, signals to either potential raiders or targets. Current policy deems that, under certain circumstances, mergers are undesirable. The problem is that the circumstances are unknown. Thus published guidelines are essential given the need for a merger policy. Further, we conclude that a stronger policy is necessary. In particular it should be incumbent upon firms to show expected benefits rather than a lack of detriments.

This dissertation examines the wealth effects of bank mergers on bidder, target, and combined firm shareholders for a sample of 785 mergers during the period 1980-2000. The dissertation employs two unique bank event study methodologies to calculate abnormal returns for bidder, target and combined firms. The first methodology is a modified market model that controls for shocks common to the banking industry. The second is an EGARCH (1,1) model that adjusts for the violated regression assumptions of the traditional market model event study. Namely, it controls for the linearity assumption, heteroskedasticity, and the correlation in the error term. The results of both methodologies reveal that target shareholders enjoy significantly positive abnormal returns, whereas the bidder shareholders experience significantly negative abnormal returns. Overall, announcements of bank mergers generate positive wealth effects for the combined shareholders. However, the evidence presented in this dissertation, to some extent, underscores the importance of the choice of models describing stock returns in examining the impact of bank mergers. In addition, when mergers are analyzed to determine the effects of relative size and relative book-to-market values, we find evidence that the relative size significantly affects the target, bidder and combined firm return; method of payment is also found to be significant in abnormal returns. Moreover, we find that the number of bidders affects only the bidder returns, while book-tomarket values are irrelevant factors. Availability Restricted: Release the entire work for campu

Joint ventures are a widely used form of interfirm collaboration, which possess some characteristics of both mergers, in which two or more firms come permanently under common control and cease to be distinct, and agreements, which impact the competitive behaviour of firms that remain independent of each other. Due to their hybrid economic nature, it has always been controversial what types of joint ventures should be regarded as mergers under competition law, and how the fact that the parent firms remain independent outside the cooperation should be incorporated into traditional merger analysis. In the EU, only full-function joint ventures are treated as mergers under the Merger Regulation. However, unlike amalgamations and acquisitions, these joint ventures are subject to an additional analysis under Article 101 TFEU to the extent that they lead to the coordination of the competitive behaviour of the parents. This thesis aims to critically analyse this approach to the substantive appraisal of joint ventures under the EU merger control regime, based on its consistency with the general rules of EU competition law and with relevant economic theories, in a comparative perspective with the US competition law regime. In this regard, the thesis shows that (i) the full-functionality criterion assuming that full-function joint ventures are autonomous from an operational viewpoint has some negative implications for the competition analysis of joint ventures; and (ii) the fact that the parent firms retain activities in the joint venture’s market, or in other markets, does not seem to be properly incorporated into the analysis under the Merger Regulation. This thesis seeks to propose some alternatives and solutions with respect to these problematic issues and, thereby, contribute to the body of knowledge and debate about joint ventures which have been, and will be, one of the most intricate and controversial topics of competition law.

In recent years, practitioners and academics have become increasingly concerned that traditional discounted cash flow valuation models, such as the net present value model, are not capable of adequately capturing the value of managerial flexibilities to delay, grow, scale down, or abandon projects. The effect of ignorance of such managerial flexibilities can be potentially substantial, with the possibility of producing biased decisions. Real options analysis provides the insights that business investment projects can be conceptually compared to financial options and is therefore able to seize the value of managerial flexibilities. <br /> The purpose of this thesis is to develop a theoretical model based on option pricing theory to evaluate the managerial flexibilities arising in a variety of mergers and acquisitions, which vary in payment forms. The thesis shows how transactions can be structured as a real exchange options, given the share price of each participating firm is subject to a specified degree of uncertainty. The takeover decisions of bidder or target, i.e., the takeover threshold to bid or to accept the bid, is obtained through the analysis. In addition, the thesis provides valuable theoretical insights into the following aspects: <br /> <ul> <li>The impact of the form of payment on the decision making process for each participant and corresponding merger terms</li> <li>The payment form that minimizes the threshold to trigger a transaction</li> <li>The allocating rule of mergers and acquisitions synergy when payment form threshold is employed </li> </ul> <br /> In the latter part of thesis, an empirical study is conducted on mergers and acquisitions completed by US public bidders between January 1985 and April 2004 excluding all financial institutions deals. Strong support is found from the data that some of the target firm characteristics such as expected growth rate and volatility are significant in explaining the payment form choices.

I use a quasi-exogeneous shock to information asymmetry among shareholders to evaluate the effect of information asymmetry on corporate disclosure. In the post-Regulation FD period, the merger between a shareholder and a lender of the same firm provides a shock to the information asymmetry among equity investors, because Regulation FD applies to shareholders but not lenders. After the merger, the shareholder gains access to the firm-specific private information held by the lender. I first provide evidence that information asymmetry among shareholders increases after the shareholder-lender mergers. I then use a difference-in-differences research design to show that after shareholder-lender merger transactions, firms issue more quarterly forecasts (including earnings, sales, capital expenditure, EBITDA, and gross margin), and the quarterly earnings forecasts are more precise. This study provides direct empirical evidence that information asymmetry among investors affects corporate disclosure.

<p>This paper provides practical implications through the case of Swedbank on the corporate cultures of companies that want to enter into merger or acquisition process. By comparing earlier research and theory with the processes of Swedbank, it aims to provide solutions to companies that face these specific challenges.</p>

<p>Title: Are Mergers and Acquisitions a successful way of growth- A Case Study of AstraZeneca</p><p>Subject: Bachelors thesis within the field of Business Management, School of Economics and Engineering, Halmstad University, Sweden</p><p>Authors: Frida Ekenberg & Simon Utas</p><p>Supervisor: Christer Norr</p><p>Objective: The objective of this thesis is to analyse the effects of a fusion from a business perspective. Furthermore, a case study approach is used in order to identify factors that have been reached by AstraZeneca through the joint venture.</p><p>Working Structure: The thesis is based on a qualitative case study of AstraZeneca. The empirical data is based on interviews with people who were working at the company at the time of the merger and people within the field of the stock market. Furthermore, studies of documents, articles, press releases and annual reports have been used as a framework for the empirical data.</p><p>Conclusion: The results from our study are not unequivocal. However, today AstraZeneca is considered to be a successful joint venture since the company is one of the greatest market leaders in the pharmaceutical industry. Even though, the analysis state that the deal created both financial and international advantages, its effects on the share price movement are not equivalent. Furthermore, the share price movement is only a short term effect and since synergy effects were accomplished concurren</p>

This dissertation provides a comprehensive analysis of shareholder rights plans and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) for a unique class of securities, i.e., the Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) between 1988 and 2000. This research seeks to establish what form of management, ownership structure and financial characteristics are exhibited by REITs which adopted antitakeover amendments as well as determine their impact on REIT values and the market for corporate control. While merger and acquisition transactions involving public REITs have much in common with M&A transactions involving other public companies, the role of governance has not been explored in REITs for these transactions. This paper finds that while firm specific variables can differentiate between targets and acquirers, the role of the governance structure appears to be quite limited. In fact, REITs seem to be driven by firm level performance.