Thursday, April 10, 2014

Do Bad Bidders Become Good Targets?

We all have our favorites, from food to songs and so it is with titles to academic articles.  Today’s post features one of my favorites, “Do Bad Bidders Become Good Targets?”  The answer, in a very interesting article by Mark Mitchell and Ken Lehn, is yes. 

We’ve argued before that the best takeover defense is to not leave money on the table.  The analysis of this article follows this logic.  Companies that lose money through bad acquisitions are wasting shareholder value and are likely to be targets themselves.  The complete article can be downloaded here.  The abstract is shown below.

Do Bad Bidders Become Good Targets?”
by Mark Mitchell and Ken Lehn

This paper empirically examines one motive for takeovers: to change control of firms that make acquisitions that diminish the value of their equity. Firms that subsequently become takeover targets make acquisitions that significantly reduce their equity value, and firms that do not become takeover targets make acquisitions that raise their equity value. Within the sample of acquisitions by targets, the acquisitions that reduce equity value the most are those that are later divested either in bust-up takeovers or restructuring programs to thwart the takeover. This evidence is consistent with theories advanced by Robin Marris (1963), Henry G. Manne (1965), and Michael C. Jensen (1986) concerning the disciplinary role played by takeovers. 


All the best,


Ralph

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