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State ownership and market liberalization: Evidence from China's domestic M&A market

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  • Ma, Ming
  • Sun, Xian
  • Waisman, Maya
  • Zhu, Yun

Abstract

We study how state ownership affects the post-merger performance of Chinese acquirers, and find that state owned acquirers (SOEs) experience a significantly larger long-term performance improvement following mergers compared to their non-state-owned (NSOE) counterparts. When partitioning the sample period into acquisitions made prior to and following China's split-share reform of 2005, we find that the post-merger performance improvement of SOE acquirers is largely attributed to the post reform period in which controlling shareholders converted their non-tradable shares into tradable status. Our results are consistent with the interpretation that state intervention in the form of capital market liberalization and alleviation of governance problems, combined with political connections and privileged access to financing, may have a positive effect on M&A performance that outweighs the inefficiency cost of state ownership in China.

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  • Ma, Ming & Sun, Xian & Waisman, Maya & Zhu, Yun, 2016. "State ownership and market liberalization: Evidence from China's domestic M&A market," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 205-223.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jimfin:v:69:y:2016:i:c:p:205-223
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jimonfin.2016.07.004
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    2. Yousry Ahmed & Tamer Elshandidy, 2021. "Effect of leverage deviation on choices and outcomes of public versus non‐public acquisitions," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 3436-3459, July.
    3. Zhang, Wenjia & Mauck, Nathan, 2018. "Government-affiliation, bilateral political relations and cross-border mergers: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 220-250.
    4. Iftekhar Hasan & Fahad Khalil & Xian Sun, 2017. "The Impacts of Intellectual Property Rights Protection on Cross-Border M&As," Quarterly Journal of Finance (QJF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(03), pages 1-35, September.
    5. Sha, Yezhou & Kang, Chenlei & Wang, Zilong, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty and mergers and acquisitions: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 590-600.
    6. Nguyen, Vinh & Tran, Anh & Zeckhauser, Richard, 2017. "Stock splits to profit insider trading: Lessons from an emerging market," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 69-87.
    7. Sun, Xian & Jiang, Ellen Jin & Phan, Phillip H. & Zhang, Hua, 2022. "De facto power in a transition economy: The case of China," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    8. Mengyin Li & Phillip H. Phan & Xian Sun, 2021. "Business Friendliness: A Double-Edged Sword," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-22, February.
    9. Dau, Luis Alfonso & Moore, Elizabeth M. & Kostova, Tatiana, 2020. "The impact of market based institutional reforms on firm strategy and performance: Review and extension," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(4).
    10. Wang, Xia & Feng, Mingming & Xu, Xiaodong, 2019. "Political connections of independent directors and firm internationalization: An empirical study of Chinese listed firms," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
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    12. Chia-Hsien Tang & Yen-Hsien Lee & Ming-Chih Lee & Ya-Ling Huang, 2020. "CEO Characteristics Enhancing the Impact of CEO Overconfidence on Firm Value After Mergers and Acquisitions — A Case Study in China," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(01), pages 1-19, March.

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