Syfte: Studiens syfte var att undersöka om det uppstår onormal avkastning för målföretagets aktieägare vid offentliggörandet av företagsförvärv på den svenska aktiemarknaden, samt att undersöka om den svenska aktiemarknaden är effektiv enligt den effektiva marknadshypotesen. Metod: I uppsatsen tillämpades en eventstudie för att studera den onormala avkastningen. Datainsamlingen har skett från Thomson Reuters Eikon, Orbis, Zephyr och Retriver. Studiens dataunderlag har analyserats och presenterats i figurer och tabeller. Resultatet bygger på hypotesprövning och signifikanstest av framräknade onormala avkastningar.  Resultat & slutsats: Resultatet visade att målföretagens aktieägare vid offentliggörandet av företagsförvärv i genomsnitt erhöll en hög positiv onormal avkastning under perioden 2011 till 2016, samt att den svenska aktiemarknaden var effektiv. Detta genomsnittliga värde var statistiskt signifikant på signifikansnivån 0,01 procent. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Ett förslag till vidare forskning är att undersöka ett längre tidsspann, vilket kan öka populationens storlek. Vidare forskning kan även undersöka om olika faktorer i företagsförvärvet kan förklara de erhållna onormala avkastningarna.  Uppsatsens bidrag: Studien bidrar med relevant information till företagsledningar, finansanalytiker och företagsintressenter. Detta eftersom studiens resultat skapar förståelse för företagsförvärv i en svensk kontext och kan därför ligga till grund för beslutsfattande, värderingar och beräkningar av framtida företagsförvärv. / Aim: The aim of the study is to examine if the target company shareholders receive an abnormal return on the day of the announcement, on the Swedish stock market. The study also examines if the Swedish stock market is efficient according to the efficient market hypothesis. Method: The study was conducted according to the event study methodology. The data was collected from Thomson Reuters Eikon, Orbis, Zephyr and Retriever. The findings in the study was displayed and analysed in figures and tables. Hypothesis test and test of significance were used to investigate the aim of the study. Findings and conclusions: For the time period studied, 2011 to 2016, the target company shareholders on average received a high positive abnormal return on the day of the announcement, which was significant on the one percent level. The findings also indicates that the Swedish stock market is efficient according to the efficient market hypothesis. Suggestions for future research: One suggestion for future research could be to expand the time interval, which could increase the size of the population. Future research could also take the characteristics of the acquisition in consideration in an attempt to explain the abnormal returns found in this study.  Contribution of the thesis: This study’s findings are relevant for the chairmen of the board, finance analysts and corporate stakeholders. The findings in this study provides an understanding of the nature of acquisitions on the Swedish stock market, which can be used for decision making, evaluations and calculations of future acquisitions.

Companies spend trillions of dollars on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) every year, and tens of thousands of new M&A deals are announced every year. However, despite the huge costs, only 10% to 30% of the M&As announced, get finalized (Christensen et al., 2011).There is extensive research conducted on why M&As fail, and their implications for the companies involved in the transaction. However, these large deals do not only impact the firms directly involved in the deal.  Microsoft, one of the world’s most influential companies, made on the 18th of January 2022 an acquisition announcement regarding its intent to acquire Activation Blizzard, one of the world’s largest game studios. The announcement made headlines all over the world and resulted in protests from competitors of the two companies. One of these competitors, Sony, experienced a 13% drop in stock price due to the acquisition announcement.  This thesis investigates the effect of acquisition announcements on the stock return of competitors to the target company. The study is examining the competitors stock return during the month leading up to the announcement, as well as the stock return during the month following the announcement. The authors have taken inspiration from a previous study “Acquisitions: A curse or blessing for direct competitors? The impact of target ownership structure” conducted by Mataigne et al. (2021).  By reviewing over 700 market reactions to acquisition announcements over a 10-year period, the authors were able to statistically test the differences in mean stock return. The authors were able to conclude that acquisition announcements have a negative impact on the stock return of competitors, and thereby answer the proposed research question: “What is the effect of acquisitions announcements on the stock returns of target company’s competitors in Sweden?”. Competitors to the target firm of an acquisition will experience the most significant change in their stock returns in the time period close to the announcement, after which the reaction will stabilize. The empirical findings of the study contribute to the field of knowledge using Behavioral Finance, the Efficient Market Hypothesis, the Capital Asset Pricing Model, the Stakeholder Theory, the Mitchell Model, and various market valuation methods.  Evidently, theories as part of the Behavioral Finance scope, such as the Efficient Market Hypothesis, provide support to the findings following the acquisition announcement. Theories such as the Stakeholder Theory and the Mitchell Model have helped identify competitors' stakeholder role to show how various events and organizations affect them as stakeholders in the market.  This study, which utilizes over 60.000 datapoints from daily price data for its analysis, takes a deductive approach within the positivist paradigm framework. The data is statistically tested using paired t-tests.

隨著全球化的趨勢，企業經營所面對的不僅是國內同業的競爭，更面臨國外同業的競爭。企業透過組織調整，在資金、人才以及經濟規模的議題，企業併購已成為近年來台灣之趨勢及風潮。企業進行併購活動熱絡時，對於企業之組織調整、轉型具有正面效益，可促使規模經濟，降低成本，發揮經營效率，提升國際競爭力。 本研究主要探討併購宣告、支付工具的選擇以及跨國因素之不同，對主併公司股東財富的影響。以民國89年1月1日至民國96年12月31日間，主併公司為台灣地區之上市櫃公司、標的公司為全球任一國家註冊之公司的所有併購事件，計有527個觀察值。採用事件研究法(event study)進行實證研究結果如下： 一、對主併公司股東而言，併購宣告效果 本研究以事件研究法進行實證分析，發現併購宣告日前後期間，對於主併公司股東財富有顯著正向異常報酬。但若拉長事件觀察期間，則變得不顯著。也就是主併公司的併購活動無法獲得營運綜效。 二、併購支付工具對主併公司股東財富之影響 本研究實證結果發現企業併購採用現金支付及混合支付，31天的事件期間對主併公司股東而言，皆呈現不顯著之正向平均累積異常報酬。採取換股支付則有不顯著之負向平均累積異常報酬。以混合式支付，於事件期間有正向不顯著平均累積異常報酬；於宣告日前後期間則有正向顯著平均累積異常報酬。 三、宣告國內併購及國際併購對主併公司股東財富之影響 本研究實證結果為國內併購中主併公司在31天的觀察期間，對於主併公司股東而言，僅於宣告日前後期間會有正向平均累積異常報酬，但是拉若拉長觀察期間，其結果並不顯著。國際併購則有不顯著之負向平均累積異常報酬。 / The issues on capital funding, people asset and business scoping are becoming more significant topics with the increasing activities in corporate merger and acquisition (M&A). It has been said that the corporate reorganization through M&A has positive effect within the business because of larger business scope and more efficient in cost management. The corporation will be able to compete better in the international market. This study will focus on the market reactions on the merger and acquisition announcement, the method of payment choice and domestic or international M&A. The observation study cover 527 M&A cases from year 2000 to 2007. The study result based on event study research method are as followed: 1. The M&A announcement result to acquiring company shareholders: The study shows significant remuneration to acquiring company shareholders’ wealth before and after the M&A announcement. Less significant once we observe the case at longer time period. The result shows that the acquiring company can not achieve synergy effect. 2. The wealth effect to shareholders with different means of payment: The study shows that the combination of cash payout and exchange of stocks and cash payment method shows insignificant positive accumulative abnormal return to shareholders within 31 days before and after the M&A. Settlement with only exchange of stocks shows insignificant negative cumulative abnormal return to shareholders. 3. The effect to shareholder’s wealth from announcing domestic M&A or international M&A: The study shows that in the case of announcing domestic M&A, the acquiring shareholders has positive cumulative abnormal return within the 31 days before and after the announcement. Once we observe longer period, the result is less significant. International M&A shows negative insignificant cumulative abnormal return.