Family Firm Mergers and Acquisitions in Different Legal Environments

This study analyses family versus nonfamily firm returns under different legal environments when a merger and acquisition (M&A) is announced. The database includes 124 M&As of European-listed firms (15 countries), with acquired firms being worldwide public or private firms (23 countries), over the 2002 to 2004 period. The findings show that family ownership has a positive and significant influence on acquiring shareholder M&A valuation. However, a major shareholder ownership of 32% has a negative effect. The authors also observe that a weaker legal and institutional environment in the target country has a positive influence on acquiring shareholder valuation.