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Mutual fund skill and the performance of corporate acquirers

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  • Nain, Amrita
  • Yao, Tong

Abstract

We show that the commonly observed correlation between institutional investor ownership and the success of mergers is partly driven by active stock picking. Several mutual fund stock selection skill measures strongly predict the post-merger performance of corporate acquirers even after controlling for possible shareholder monitoring. These findings are stronger for funds with characteristics more indicative of active stock picking. Moreover, firms held by funds with higher stock selection skills are more likely to subsequently become acquirers, suggesting that the mutual fund skill set includes the ability to identify acquirers with value-enhancing acquisition opportunities.

Suggested Citation

  • Nain, Amrita & Yao, Tong, 2013. "Mutual fund skill and the performance of corporate acquirers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(2), pages 437-456.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:110:y:2013:i:2:p:437-456
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2013.06.005
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    Cited by:

    1. Feng, Xunan & Johansson, Anders C., 2015. "Can mutual funds pick stocks in China? Evidence from the IPO market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 170-186.
    2. Peng, Fei & Anwar, Sajid & Kang, Lili, 2020. "Institutional monitoring, coordination and corporate acquisitions in China," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    3. Oyotode-Adebile, Renee & Hibbert, Ann Marie & Shankar, Siddharth, 2022. "The impact of gender-diverse board and institutional investors on accruals management," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    4. Lingwei Li & Huai Zhang, 2021. "The devil is in the detail? Investors’ mispricing of proxy voting outcomes on M&A deals," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3-4), pages 692-717, March.
    5. Hong Zhu & Qi Zhu, 2016. "Mergers and acquisitions by Chinese firms: A review and comparison with other mergers and acquisitions research in the leading journals," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 1107-1149, December.
    6. Qifei Zhu, 2020. "The Missing New Funds," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(3), pages 1193-1204, March.
    7. Renneboog, Luc & Vansteenkiste, Cara, 2019. "Failure and success in mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 650-699.
    8. Chen, Yenn-Ru & Jiang, Xiaoquan & Weng, Chia-Hsiang, 2020. "Can government industrial policy enhance corporate bidding? The evidence of China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    9. Zhu, Minchen & Lv, Dayong & Wu, Wenfeng, 2022. "Market stabilization fund and stock price crash risk: Evidence from the post-crash period," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    10. Vidal-García, Javier & Vidal, Marta & Boubaker, Sabri & Uddin, Gazi Salah, 2016. "The short-term persistence of international mutual fund performance," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 52(PB), pages 926-938.
    11. Pi‐Hsia Hung & Donald Lien & Yun‐Ju Chien, 2020. "Portfolio concentration and fund manager performance," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(3), pages 423-451, July.
    12. Ismail, Ahmad & Khalil, Samer & Safieddine, Assem & Titman, Sheridan, 2019. "Smart investments by smart money: Evidence from acquirers' projected synergies," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 343-363.
    13. Bi, XiaoGang & Wang, Danni, 2015. "Role of single largest investors: Examples of mutual funds and acquisitions," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 14(C), pages 104-110.
    14. Haniyeh Amiri & Ana Maria Gil-Lafuente, 2016. "Studying of the Factors Affecting on the Mutual Fund by Individual Investor in Iran, Malaysia, Turkey and US," Modern Applied Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(9), pages 218-218, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mergers and acquisitions; Corporate governance; Mutual funds; Stock selection;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

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