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Influence of family ownership on the industry-diversifying nature of a firm’s M&A strategy: Empirical evidence from Continental Europe

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  • Defrancq, Corneel
  • Huyghebaert, Nancy
  • Luypaert, Mathieu

Abstract

We investigate how family ownership influences the industry-diversifying nature of M&As by listed companies in Continental Europe and the corresponding shareholder value effects at deal announcement. For a large sample of 3485 M&As during 2005–2013, we observe that acquirers having a family as the largest shareholder are less inclined to take over an unrelated target firm than lone-founder and other types of non-family firms. However, as the size of the family ownership stake increases, family firms become more eager to follow an industry-diversifying M&A strategy. While industry-diversifying M&As are associated with lower abnormal returns for acquirer shareholders on average, we also observe that family ownership fully reverses this negative effect. We therefore conclude that those unrelated M&As, although still representing a conflict of interest with the family firm’s minority investors, do not destroy shareholder value on average.

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  • Defrancq, Corneel & Huyghebaert, Nancy & Luypaert, Mathieu, 2016. "Influence of family ownership on the industry-diversifying nature of a firm’s M&A strategy: Empirical evidence from Continental Europe," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 7(4), pages 210-226.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:fambus:v:7:y:2016:i:4:p:210-226
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfbs.2016.11.002
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    Cited by:

    1. Requejo, Ignacio & Reyes-Reina, Fernando & Sanchez-Bueno, Maria J. & Suárez-González, Isabel, 2018. "European family firms and acquisition propensity: A comprehensive analysis of the legal system’s role," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 44-58.
    2. Schierstedt, Bennet & Henn, Marisa & Lutz, Eva, 2020. "Diversified acquisitions in family firms: Restricted vs. extended family priorities," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 11(2).
    3. Worek, Maija & De Massis, Alfredo & Wright, Mike & Veider, Viktoria, 2018. "Acquisitions, disclosed goals and firm characteristics: A content analysis of family and nonfamily firms," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 250-267.
    4. Gao, Weiwei & Huang, Zhen & Yang, Ping, 2019. "Political connections, corporate governance and M&A performance: Evidence from Chinese family firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 38-53.
    5. He Soung Ahn, 2020. "Sustaining the Family Business through Open Innovation: The Role of Technological Acquisitions in Shareholder Value Creation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-17, September.
    6. Cornelius Hafner, 2021. "Diversification in family firms: a systematic review of product and international diversification strategies," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 529-572, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mergers and acquisitions; Diversification; Ownership; Family firms; Lone-founder firms; Corporate governance; Europe;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance

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