POSTCRISIS M&As AND THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS

We find that mergers and acquisitions (M&As) occurring after the 2007-2009 financial crisis were significantly more value enhancing than precrisis M&As, in both the short and long term. This superior postcrisis performance can be attributed to an increase in external financing constraints following the crisis that caused a decline in general financing availability. This decline restricted the universe of potential acquiring firms to those that were less financially constrained, whereas the typical postcrisis target firm was more financially constrained. As a result, postcrisis acquirers were able to obtain targets at more attractive prices relative to their intrinsic value during the precrisis period when external financing was much less constrained. We also find that the typical postcrisis acquirer had greater long-term focus than their precrisis counterparts and used their financial strength to capitalize on strategic opportunities.