MANAGING MERGERS IN A DIFFICULT ERA: STOCK MARKET AND ACCOUNTING EVIDENCE FROM GREECE

摘要

The study examines the impact of mergers on stock market and performance of companies which were involved at mergers in Greece. Thus, the study, by using a sample of twenty-three listed companies which executed at least one merger (as acquirers) during the period of economic crisis, analyses nine stock market measures and ratios using simultaneously accounting measures extracted from corresponding financial statements. More specifically, we test a company’s performance by comparing a two-year span period before and after of all the merger events that took place within the period 2011-2015 (with data analysis from 2009 to 2017). The results of the study indicated that there is no statistically significant improvement or worsening for none of the examined variables in the post-merger period. In addition, we examined further merger characteristics, such as the method of payment and industry relatedness (qualitative variables). We observed statistically significant changes of a variable, in relation with the payment method, and in particular improvement of a variable when the exchange of shares is used as a payment method of a merger, instead of cash exchange.