The Role of Timing in a Merger Wave on Overcoming Challenges in the M&A Pre-Merger Process

This paper investigates two important issues in the pre-merger process, namely the probability to complete an announced M&A deal and the time needed to complete the process. First, through a content analysis of the 150 largest abandoned announced M&A deals between 2000 and 2010, we demonstrate that defense from the target, competing bidders, regulatory concerns, and acquirer opposition are major roadblocks that firms might face during the pre-...