Determinants of premiums paid in bank acquisitions

Abstract

Mergers are a relatively observable form of business behavior and reflect a major business decision. As such, mergers provide an attractive opportunity for empirical investigation into business behavior, which may shed light on business motivation. This study tests for the determinants of premiums paid in 1,835 of the 2,717 bank mergers and acquisitions that occurred from 1973–83. The only variables that are often statistically significant and carry consistent sights are: (1) growth of the target firm; (2) growth of the target market; and (3) the capital-to-assets ratio of the target firm. The signs on these variables suggest that high growth of the target firm and its market and a low capital-to-assets ratio are particularly attractive to bank managers, for which they are willing to pay a premium. Variables which provide a relatively direct indication of profit opportunities are often not statistically significant or carry mixed signs. Overall, the results suggest that, among the set of banks that are actually acquired, growth of the target bank and its market will induce bank managers to pay a premium but profits of the target do not elicit a premium.