The (Missing) Relation between Announcement Returns and Value Creation

94 Pages Posted: 27 Oct 2020 Last revised: 10 Apr 2024

See all articles by Itzhak Ben-David

Itzhak Ben-David

Ohio State University (OSU) - Department of Finance; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Utpal Bhattacharya

HKUST Business School

Stacey E. Jacobsen

Southern Methodist University (SMU) - Finance Department

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: October 2020

Abstract

Cumulative abnormal returns (CAR) computed during acquisition announcements are widely considered to be market-based assessments of expected value creation. We show that announcement returns do not correlate with commonly used and new measures of ex-post acquisition outcomes. A simple characteristics model using standard information known at announcement can predict outcomes reasonably well, and CAR fails even to capture the prediction from this model. A likely reason is that, because acquisition decisions are endogenous, CAR conveys information about the NPV of the deal as well as the event that triggered the deal announcement. We find that CAR variance is too high to be explained by NPV variance alone, suggesting that other non-NPV information related to this trigger dominates. We conclude that CAR is an unreliable measure of expected value creation.

Suggested Citation

Ben-David, Itzhak and Bhattacharya, Utpal and Jacobsen, Stacey E., The (Missing) Relation between Announcement Returns and Value Creation (October 2020). NBER Working Paper No. w27976, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3718888

Itzhak Ben-David (Contact Author)

Ohio State University (OSU) - Department of Finance ( email )

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Utpal Bhattacharya

HKUST Business School ( email )

Clear Water Bay
Kowloon
Hong Kong

Stacey E. Jacobsen

Southern Methodist University (SMU) - Finance Department ( email )

United States

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