MERGER FAILURE AND MERGER PROFITABILITY

The focus of the paper is the effect of merger proposals on the expected profitability of the bidder and the target. We illustrate how an unsuccessful bid may increase the profitability of the target but reduce the profitability of the bidding firm, relative to the profitability of the firms before the merger offer. The profitability of a merger proposal is lowered due to learning from rejection. We use our theoretical model to explain empirical work on this issue.