UK M&A firms punching above their weight: Being bold, moving fast and paying cash key to takeover triumphs
The study examined 265,000 deals over 20 years
Companies pursuing aggressive merger and acquisition strategies deliver higher returns for shareholders than firms which act with more caution, a study finds.
Businesses offering all-cash bids, and those that pursue overseas targets and avoid large transformational deals outperform their peers on a total shareholder return basis, the report said.
The study, by City University London’s Cass Business School and Intralinks, examined 265,000 deals over 20 years.
UK firms including Capita, Icap, Aberdeen Asset Management, SABMiller, Moneysupermarket.com, Shire and Go-Ahead Group were identified as companies which outperformed their peers due to their M&A strategy
About 16 per cent of firms in the UK were identified as having stronger M&A skills than their peers, while the US had just eight per cent.