Which board characteristics matter in acquisitions?

• Main Authors: Bay, Maurice Min Long, Chew, Terence Wei Xin, Kwan, Sik Hin
• Other Authors: Nanyang Business School
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business::Finance::Corporate governance
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/43974
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

We study 477 randomly-selected acquisitions from the period of 1998 to 2009. We investigated the effect of corporate governance on the acquirer firm performance by documenting the short run cumulative abnormal returns during the respective period of acquisition announcements, and determining the various board characteristics that contribute to the abnormal returns. Regression results show a statistical significance for the following variables: i) presence of financial directors on the board; ii) the social ties between CEO and independent directors of the board; iii) the independent director‟s talent; iv) the gender composition of the board, v) the independent director‟s experience and vi) the distractions faced in their role. Keywords: acquisitions, corporate governance, firm performance, abnormal returns