Abstract
The paper examines the geographic dimension between acquiring and
target firms to take into account the information cost which decreases
synergy effects generated by M&As in the container shipping industry.
The paper finds that the geographical distance has a negative impact on
takeover flows. M&A activities were more intense among firms located
closely each other. The paper provides evidence that the firm size raises
the relative acquiring probability for inter-regional and cross-border
M&As. While the existing literature suggests that financially
underperforming firms are more likely to be targeted by a firm, the paper
argues that the smaller and unquoted public firms are more vulnerable to
M&As.