Do Acquisitions of Private Targets Create Higher Value?

Abstract

Acquirers, on average, earn higher announcement-period returns when their targets are privately held than when their targets are publicly traded. We show that private targets have significantly more intangible assets than do public targets. We then develop a valuation model that is based on the fair values of the targets’ tangible and intangible assets and demonstrate that relative to public targets, private targets, while commanding higher premiums over their stand-alone values, also generate higher synergies in the acquisitions. However, the higher synergies in private target acquisitions are not the result of the target status but are driven by the larger amount of intangible assets acquired in those deals. We also find that the variance of synergies in private targets is much larger than that in acquisitions of public targets. Finally, our results are robust for known effects such as mode of payment and expected growth.