The association between acquisition premia and target size in the EU setting

Abstract: The aim of this bachelor thesis is to determine the association between target size and acquisition premia in intra-EU corporate takeovers and moreover whether this association holds in the period following the global financial crisis in 2008. Using a data set of 919 intra-EU deals between 2005-2017 and controlling for a wide variety of target-firm and deal characteristics, we demonstrate a robust negative relationship between acquisition premia and target size. We further show that this association holds following the wake of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008. In addition, we find that many previously studied determinants of acquisition premia show significant effects in the EU setting between 2005 and 2017.