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The Role of Toeholds and Capital Gain Taxes for Corporate Acquisition Strategies

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  • Stimmelmayr, Michael
  • Liberini, Federica
  • Russo, Antonio

Abstract

Ownership takeovers often follow complex strategies where the control of the target firm is acquired through a sequence of independent contracts. We study the role of capital gain taxes on the contract structure and on the method of finance of merger and acquisitions (M&As). We find that capital gain taxes discourage cash-to-stock transactions and that this effect is stronger in sequential acquisitions. In addition, we show that capital gain taxes promote sequential acquisitions and thus carry a beneficial welfare effect by avoiding the waste of productive resources due to unprofitable mergers. We provide empirical support for the model predictions by estimating a bivariate probit on a sample of acquisition contracts collected from the Thomson Financial SDC database.

Suggested Citation

  • Stimmelmayr, Michael & Liberini, Federica & Russo, Antonio, 2015. "The Role of Toeholds and Capital Gain Taxes for Corporate Acquisition Strategies," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112926, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc15:112926
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • C35 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions

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