This paper empirically investigates M&A failure in Europe during 1997–2006. Using
three complementary M&A failure proxies, i.e. inferior long-term stock performance
of the combined firm, inferior operating performance of the combined firm, and
target divestment, we document that about 50% of European takeovers fails to create
shareholder valuewhen considering a two-year windowfollowing deal completion. Also,
between 30% and 40% of these deals results in a decrease in operating performance for
the combined firm at the end of the second year following deal closure. However, in
less than 10% of European M&As was a majority stake in the target sold again after the
deal was closed. Surprisingly, the M&A failure rates for acquisitions of private targets
are not very different from those for listed targets. When looking at average M&A
shareholder value effects in a time frame up to two years following deal completion,
we find comparable average losses for shareholders for acquisitions of private targets
and listed targets. Also, in both samples we find a modest, but significant median
increase in operating performance of approximately 2–3% after a two-year post-M&A
critical window. In addition, we examine whether the average market participant can
assess already at deal announcement whether an M&A will ultimately succeed/fail.
When target firms are listed, we find robust evidence that stock market investors can
predict the outcome of an M&A: the results indicate a consistent and significant negative
relation between combined short-term M&A value effects at deal announcement and the
likelihood as well as the magnitude of M&A failure. These findings continue to hold
when looking at acquirer abnormal returns only and when accounting for a longer post-
M&A integration period. Yet, when target firms are privately held, we cannot find much
empirical evidence that investors can predict M&A failure upon deal announcement.
Only when large private firms are being targeted do we detect some support for a relation
between acquirer abnormal returns and combined shareholder losses two years following
deal completion. As we observe no differences in the likelihood and the extent of M&A
failure depending upon the size of the private target firm relative to that of the bidder,
these results are more supportive of the idea that reduced access to failure-relevant
information limits an investor’s ability to anticipate M&A failure when the target firm
is privately held.