Cross-border arbitrage and acquirers’ returns in the Eurozone crisis

Abstract

Using a sample of 1263 European acquisitions over 2004–2012, we show that the performance of cross-border acquisitions is significantly affected by the Eurozone and the euro debt crisis. First, due to financial market integration and the elimination of exchange rate risk, intra-Eurozone acquisitions do not earn any abnormal returns for bidders. Second, as a result of the euro debt crisis and the temporary misvaluation among European countries, acquisitions earn positive abnormal returns only for non-Eurozone companies acquiring Eurozone targets. These abnormal returns are driven by the depreciation of the euro and the use of low-cost capital available to overvalued acquirers.