The effects of industry relatedness and takeover motives on cross-border acquisition completion

Abstract

This study builds on behavioral perspectives about risky decision-making and aims to identify the industry- and firm-level factors that affect decision makers' expected returns, perceived risk, and attitude toward risk. Together, these three criteria lead to the ultimate completion or abandonment of a cross-border acquisition after a public announcement. By using data from 1985–2008, this study presents empirical results from cross-border acquisitions. The results show that a cross-border acquisition deal is more likely to succeed when the degree of relatedness between an acquirer's and a target's businesses is high. The findings also show that acquisitions with strategic rather than financial motives are more likely to succeed.