Organization Capital and Mergers and Acquisitions

Using a sample of completed U.S. merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions over the period 1984-2014, we find that acquirer organization capital as measured by capitalized selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) expenses is associated with superior deal performance. We show that high organization-capital acquirers achieve significantly higher abnormal announcement period returns, and better post-merger operating and stock performance, than...