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Liquidity mergers

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  • Almeida, Heitor
  • Campello, Murillo
  • Hackbarth, Dirk

Abstract

We study the interplay between corporate liquidity and asset reallocation. Our model shows that financially distressed firms are acquired by liquid firms in their industries even in the absence of operational synergies. We call these transactions “liquidity mergers,” since their purpose is to reallocate liquidity to firms that are otherwise inefficiently terminated. We show that liquidity mergers are more likely to occur when industry-level asset-specificity is high and firm-level asset-specificity is low. We analyze firms' liquidity policies as a function of real asset reallocation, examining the trade-offs between cash and credit lines. We verify the model's prediction that liquidity mergers are more likely to occur in industries in which assets are industry-specific, but transferable across firms. We also show that firms are more likely to use credit lines (relative to cash) in industries in which liquidity mergers are more frequent.

Suggested Citation

  • Almeida, Heitor & Campello, Murillo & Hackbarth, Dirk, 2011. "Liquidity mergers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(3), pages 526-558.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:102:y:2011:i:3:p:526-558
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2011.08.002
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    Cited by:

    1. Rahul Mukherjee & Linda L. Tesar & Ron Alquist, 2014. "Liquidity-Driven FDI," IHEID Working Papers 17-2014, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies, revised 11 Dec 2014.
    2. Beutler, Toni & Grobéty, Mathieu, 2019. "The collateral channel under imperfect debt enforcement," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 336-359.
    3. Alquist, Ron & Mukherjee, Rahul & Tesar, Linda, 2016. "Fire-sale FDI or business as usual?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 93-113.
    4. Choi, Jaewon & Hackbarth, Dirk & Zechner, Josef, 2021. "Granularity of Corporate Debt," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(4), pages 1127-1162, June.
    5. Ying Xu & Hai Anh La, 2017. "Spillovers of the United States’ Unconventional Monetary Policy to Emerging Asia: The Bank Lending Channel," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(12), pages 2744-2769, December.
    6. Vittoria Cerasi & Alessandro Fedele & Raffaele Miniaci, 2013. "Product market competition and collateralized debt," Working Papers 238, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Mar 2013.
    7. Andrei Shleifer & Robert Vishny, 2011. "Fire Sales in Finance and Macroeconomics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(1), pages 29-48, Winter.
    8. Chang, Xin & Shekhar, Chander & Tam, Lewis H.K. & Yao, Jiaquan, 2016. "The information role of advisors in mergers and acquisitions: Evidence from acquirers hiring targets’ ex-advisors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 247-264.
    9. Quoc-Anh Do & Yen-Teik Lee & Bang Dang Nguyen, 2016. "Directors as Connectors: The Impact of the External Networks of Directors on Firms," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03393196, HAL.
    10. Larrain, Borja & Tapia, Matías & Urzúa I., Francisco, 2017. "Investor protection and corporate control," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 174-190.
    11. Heitor Almeida & Murillo Campello & Igor Cunha & Michael S. Weisbach, 2014. "Corporate Liquidity Management: A Conceptual Framework and Survey," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 135-162, December.
    12. Filippo Ippolito & Ander Pérez Orive, 2012. "Credit Lines: The Other Side of Corporate Liquidity," Working Papers 618, Barcelona School of Economics.
    13. Gregor Matvos & Amit Seru, 2014. "Resource Allocation within Firms and Financial Market Dislocation: Evidence from Diversified Conglomerates," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(4), pages 1143-1189.
    14. Dinc, Serdar & Erel, Isil & Liao, Rose, 2017. "Fire sale discount: Evidence from the sale of minority equity stakes," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(3), pages 475-490.
    15. Ron Alquist & Rahul Mukherjee & Linda L. Tesar, 2015. "Liquidity-Driven FDI," Working Papers 646, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan.
    16. Jaffe, Jeffrey & Jindra, Jan & Pedersen, David & Voetmann, Torben, 2015. "Returns to acquirers of public and subsidiary targets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 246-270.
    17. Servaes, Henri & Meier, Jean-Marie A., 2014. "Distressed Acquisitions," CEPR Discussion Papers 10093, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Hong Zhu & Qi Zhu, 2016. "Mergers and acquisitions by Chinese firms: A review and comparison with other mergers and acquisitions research in the leading journals," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 1107-1149, December.
    19. Araujo, Aloisio P. & Ferreira, Rafael V.X. & Funchal, Bruno, 2012. "The Brazilian bankruptcy law experience," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 994-1004.
    20. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/5q8d3q8agf8hdbs42laqdfujkb is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Alhenawi, Yasser & Krishnaswami, Sudha, 2015. "Long-term impact of merger synergies on performance and value," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 93-118.
    22. Rahul Mukherjee & Christian Proebsting, 2015. "Survival of the Fittest: Corporate Control and the Cleansing Effect of Financial Crises," IHEID Working Papers 20-2015, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies, revised 01 Oct 2015.
    23. Jieying Hong & Rui Zhang, 2023. "Manager‐specific shocks, financial constraints and conglomerate merger," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(1), pages 46-59, February.
    24. Khatami, Seyed Hossein & Marchica, Maria-Teresa & Mura, Roberto, 2015. "Corporate acquisitions and financial constraints," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 107-121.
    25. Vittoria Cerasi & Alessandro Fedele & Raffaele Miniaci, 2017. "Product market competition and access to credit," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 295-318, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mergers and acquisitions; Credit lines; Cash; Asset-specificity; Financial distress;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies

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