Hedge Funds’ Short-Term Thinking: Does It Matter for Merger Payments?

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The Columbia Low School Blog featured my paper Hedge Funds’ Short-Term Thinking: Does It Matter for Merger Payments?

 

http://clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu/2018/04/24/does-hedge-fund-short-termism-shape-merger-payments/

 

Period24 Apr 2018

Media coverage

1

Media coverage

  • TitleHedge Funds’ Short-Term Thinking: Does It Matter for Merger Payments?
    Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
    Date24/04/18
    DescriptionUsing a sample of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) from 1995 to 2009, we find that the proportion of cash payment increases with hedge fund holdings in the target firms measured before the deal announcement. This effect is more pronounced when the holdings are concentrated in a smaller number of funds. Targets with higher hedge fund holdings are more likely to accept payment in bidders' overvalued equity, especially if the holdings by high-turnover hedge funds is high. When a bidder offers more cash than expected in the presence of hedge fund holding the target, deal completion probability increases, duration shortens, but neither premium nor target announcement returns are affected. Our results suggest that hedge fund short-termism leads to inefficient merger payment for long-term target shareholders.
    URLclsbluesky.law.columbia.edu/2018/04/24/does-hedge-fund-short-termism-shape-merger-payments/
    PersonsOlga Kolokolova, Ning Gao, Achim Mattes