Impact of Merger Announcements on the Stock Returns of Brazilian Acquiring Firms

Abstract

This paper assesses the impact of merger announcements on the market value of Brazilian acquiring firms based on 31 transactions that took place from 2004 to 2019 and in which the market value of the target was at least 10% of the market value of the acquirer. The estimates from the BEKK model, which extends the market model to incorporate time-varying betas and volatility clustering, suggest that abnormal returns to acquirers’ stockholders over a 15-day window around the merger announcement are statistically and economically significant, amounting to 5.3584%. Financial and accounting indicators of acquirers prior to and after the merger do not rule out the possibility that these short-run returns reflect misassessment of market participants of the value created by mergers.