Cross-border acquisitions: The impact of ownership structure on performance

This dissertation expands recent theoretical developments in the international business, strategic management and finance literatures by examining the post-acquisition financial performance of privately-held target firms in cross-border acquisitions. Besides documenting this performance, I examine the influence of country-level and firm level governance structures on target performance. Specifically, building on prior literature, I propose that the identity of acquirers, in terms of their ownership structure and the level of investor protection in acquirers' country-of-origin, is an important influence on the performance of cross-border acquisitions.;Empirical studies suggest that country factors matter for acquisition value since there are systematic differences across nations in the level of investor protection. Cross-border acquisitions could therefore be motivated, at least partially, by the potential for value creation by adopting the governance practices of acquirers from countries with high levels of investor protection.;In contrast, I argue that both country and firm-level factors need to be considered to understand how governance changes influence the performance of targets of cross-border acquisitions. I expect firms with different ownership structures to have different capabilities as acquirers in respect to the post-acquisition performance of target firms. Using a sample 111 French firms that were acquired by U.S., U.K., German, and Italian firms between 1995 and 2000, I find that both the ownership structure and the country-of-origin of acquirers matter for the post-acquisition performance of privately-held target firms.