IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ausman/v37y2012i3p391-414.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Public versus private takeovers of Australian stock exchange listed targets

Author

Listed:
  • Martin Bugeja

    (Accounting Discipline Group, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia)

  • Kosta Sinelnikov

    (Discipline of Accounting, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia)

Abstract

In this study we investigate the association between bidding firm listing status and the abnormal returns and characteristics of target firms, in the context of Australian takeovers. Similar to the US, target abnormal returns are significantly lower in private bids. However, this difference is only significant when comparing public bidders with private non-operating bidders suggesting the results are driven by a lack of operating synergy available to non-operating bidders rather than public bidder agency problems. We also study how target firm characteristics differ between public and private bidders. The results indicate that different private bidders have alternative motivations for making an acquisition. Private equity targets have a less independent board than targets of public bidders and are more undervalued. In comparison, targets of private bidders without existing business activities are smaller, have higher management ownership, lower growth and lower cash flows than targets of public bidders.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Bugeja & Kosta Sinelnikov, 2012. "Public versus private takeovers of Australian stock exchange listed targets," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 37(3), pages 391-414, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ausman:v:37:y:2012:i:3:p:391-414
    DOI: 10.1177/0312896212440270
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0312896212440270
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0312896212440270?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mara Faccio & Ronald W. Masulis, 2005. "The Choice of Payment Method in European Mergers and Acquisitions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(3), pages 1345-1388, June.
    2. Stulz, Rene M & Walkling, Ralph A & Song, Moon H, 1990. "The Distribution of Target Ownership and the Division of Gains in Successful Takeovers," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(3), pages 817-833, July.
    3. C. Weir & D. Laing & M. Wright, 2005. "Undervaluation, private information, agency costs and the decision to go private," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(13), pages 947-961.
    4. Grinstein, Yaniv & Hribar, Paul, 2004. "CEO compensation and incentives: Evidence from M&A bonuses," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 119-143, July.
    5. Palepu, Krishna G., 1990. "Consequences of leveraged buyouts," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 247-262, September.
    6. Charlie Weir & David Laing & Mike Wright, 2005. "Incentive Effects, Monitoring Mechanisms and the Market for Corporate Control: An Analysis of the Factors Affecting Public to Private Transactions in the UK," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(5‐6), pages 909-943, June.
    7. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    8. Yermack, David, 1996. "Higher market valuation of companies with a small board of directors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 185-211, February.
    9. Martin Bugeja & Raymond da Silva Rosa, 2008. "Taxation of shareholder capital gains and the choice of payment method in takeovers," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 331-350.
    10. Martin Bugeja & Raymond Da Silva Rosa & Andrew Lee, 2009. "The Impact of Director Reputation and Performance on the Turnover and Board Seats of Target Firm Directors," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1‐2), pages 185-209, January.
    11. DeAngelo, Harry & DeAngelo, Linda & Rice, Edward M, 1984. "Going Private: Minority Freezeouts and Stockholder Wealth," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(2), pages 367-401, October.
    12. Bargeron, Leonce L. & Schlingemann, Frederik P. & Stulz, René M. & Zutter, Chad J., 2008. "Why do private acquirers pay so little compared to public acquirers?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(3), pages 375-390, September.
    13. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June.
    14. Opler, Tim & Titman, Sheridan, 1993. "The Determinants of Leveraged Buyout Activity: Free Cash Flow vs. Financial Distress Costs," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(5), pages 1985-1999, December.
    15. Martin Bugeja & Raymond Da Silva Rosa, 2010. "Capital gains taxation and shareholder wealth in takeovers," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 50(2), pages 241-262, June.
    16. Martin Bugeja, 2005. "Effect of independent expert reports in Australian takeovers," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 45(4), pages 519-536, December.
    17. Lynn Hodgkinson & Graham H. Partington, 2008. "The Motivation for Takeovers in the UK," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1‐2), pages 102-126, January.
    18. Harford, Jarrad, 2003. "Takeover bids and target directors' incentives: the impact of a bid on directors' wealth and board seats," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 51-83, July.
    19. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    20. , 2009. "The Impact of Director Reputation and Performance on the Turnover and Board Seats of Target Firm Directors," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1-2), pages 185-209.
    21. Martin, Kenneth J, 1996. "The Method of Payment in Corporate Acquisitions, Investment Opportunities, and Management Ownership," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(4), pages 1227-1246, September.
    22. Stewart C. Myers & Nicholas S. Majluf, 1984. "Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions When Firms Have InformationThat Investors Do Not Have," NBER Working Papers 1396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Stulz, ReneM., 1988. "Managerial control of voting rights : Financing policies and the market for corporate control," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 25-54, January.
    24. Kenneth Lehn & Annette Poulsen, 1989. "Free Cash Flow and Stockholder Gains in Going Private Transactions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 44(3), pages 771-787, July.
    25. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    26. Smith, Richard L & Kim, Joo-Hyun, 1994. "The Combined Effects of Free Cash Flow and Financial Slack on Bidder and Target Stock Returns," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 67(2), pages 281-310, April.
    27. Charlie Weir & David Laing & Mike Wright, 2005. "Incentive Effects, Monitoring Mechanisms and the Market for Corporate Control: An Analysis of the Factors Affecting Public to Private Transactions in the UK," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(5-6), pages 909-943.
    28. Halpern, Paul & Kieschnick, Robert & Rotenberg, Wendy, 1999. "On the Heterogeneity of Leveraged Going Private Transactions," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 12(2), pages 281-309.
    29. Betton, Sandra & Eckbo, B. Espen & Thorburn, Karin S., 2009. "Merger negotiations and the toehold puzzle," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 158-178, February.
    30. Larelle Chapple & Peter M. Clarkson & Jesse J. King, 2010. "Private equity bids in Australia: an exploratory study," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 50(1), pages 79-102, March.
    31. Charlie Weir & Mike Wright, 2006. "Governance and takeovers: are public-to-private transactions different from traditional acquisitions of listed corporations?," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(4), pages 289-307.
    32. Lynn Hodgkinson & Graham H. Partington, 2008. "The Motivation for Takeovers in the UK," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1-2), pages 102-126.
    33. Lehn, Kenneth & Poulsen, Annette, 1989. " Free Cash Flow and Stockholder Gains in Going Private Transactions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 44(3), pages 771-787, July.
    34. Humphery-Jenner, Mark L. & Powell, Ronan G., 2011. "Firm size, takeover profitability, and the effectiveness of the market for corporate control: Does the absence of anti-takeover provisions make a difference?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 418-437, June.
    35. Bauguess, Scott W. & Moeller, Sara B. & Schlingemann, Frederik P. & Zutter, Chad J., 2009. "Ownership structure and target returns," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 48-65, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Farida Akhtar, 2017. "Conditional returns to shareholders of bidding firms: an Australian study," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 57, pages 3-43, April.
    2. Kebin Deng & Zhong Ding & Yushu Zhu & Qing Zhou & Kathy Walsh, 2017. "Investment–cash flow sensitivity measures investment thirst, but not financial constraint," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 57(1), pages 165-197, March.
    3. Faff, Robert & Prasadh, Shyaam & Shams, Syed, 2019. "Merger and acquisition research in the Asia-Pacific region: A review of the evidence and future directions," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 267-278.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Renneboog, Luc & Simons, Tomas & Wright, Mike, 2007. "Why do public firms go private in the UK? The impact of private equity investors, incentive realignment and undervaluation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 591-628, September.
    2. Sarah Osborne & Dean Katselas & Larelle Chapple, 2012. "The preferences of private equity investors in selecting target acquisitions: An international investigation," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 37(3), pages 361-389, December.
    3. Eckbo, B. Espen, 2009. "Bidding strategies and takeover premiums: A review," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 149-178, February.
    4. Renneboog, L.D.R. & Simons, T. & Wright, M., 2005. "Leveraged Public to Private Transactions in the UK," Discussion Paper 2005-60, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    5. Gao, Ning, 2011. "The adverse selection effect of corporate cash reserve: Evidence from acquisitions solely financed by stock," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 789-808, September.
    6. Subhrendu Rath & Mamunur Rashid, 2016. "Undervaluation and private equity takeovers," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 41(4), pages 735-759, November.
    7. Hu, Gang & Lin, Ji-Chai & Wong, Owen & Yu, Manning, 2019. "Why have many U.S.-listed Chinese firms announced delisting recently?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 13-31.
    8. Renneboog, L.D.R. & Simons, T., 2005. "Public-to-Private Transactions : LBOs, MBOs, MBIs and IBOs," Other publications TiSEM 3b76799c-591c-4d22-b126-a, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    9. Renneboog, Luc & Vansteenkiste, Cara, 2017. "Leveraged Buyouts : A Survey of the Literature," Discussion Paper 2017-015, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    10. Martynova, M., 2006. "The market for corporate control and corporate governance regulation in Europe," Other publications TiSEM 8651e281-4914-41f2-ac14-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    11. Bajo, Emanuele & Barbi, Massimiliano & Bigelli, Marco & Hillier, David, 2013. "The role of institutional investors in public-to-private transactions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4327-4336.
    12. Boubaker, Sabri & Cellier, Alexis & Rouatbi, Wael, 2014. "The sources of shareholder wealth gains from going private transactions: The role of controlling shareholders," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 226-246.
    13. Manuela Geranio & Giovanna Zanotti, 2012. "Equity Markets Do Not Fit All: an Analysis of Public†to†Private Deals in Continental Europe," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 18(5), pages 867-895, November.
    14. Mittoo, Usha & Ng, Dennis & Yan, Meng, 2020. "Managerial ownership, credit market conditions, undervaluation and offer premiums in management (MBOs) and leveraged buyouts (LBOs)," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    15. Belkhir, Mohamed & Boubaker, Sabri & Rouatbi, Wael, 2013. "Excess control, agency costs and the probability of going private in France," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 250-265.
    16. Karampatsas, Nikolaos & Petmezas, Dimitris & Travlos, Nickolaos G., 2014. "Credit ratings and the choice of payment method in mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 474-493.
    17. Yang, Junhong & Guariglia, Alessandra & Guo, Jie (Michael), 2019. "To what extent does corporate liquidity affect M&A decisions, method of payment and performance? Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 128-152.
    18. Jeffrey Harrison & Matthew Hart & Derek Oler, 2014. "Leverage and acquisition performance," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 571-603, October.
    19. Pierpaolo Pattitoni & Barbara Petracci & Massimo Spisni, 2015. "“Hit and Run” and “Revolving Doors”: evidence from the Italian stock market," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 19(2), pages 285-301, May.
    20. Martin Bugeja & Zoltan Matolcsy & Wassila Mehdi & Helen Spiropoulos, 2017. "Is non-executive directors’ pay or industry expertise related to takeover premiums, abnormal returns and offer price revisions?," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 42(3), pages 355-375, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Going private; mergers and acquisitions; takeovers;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ausman:v:37:y:2012:i:3:p:391-414. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.agsm.edu.au .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.