Does Investor Misvaluation Drive the Takeover Market?

Abstract

This paper tests the hypothesis that irrational market misvaluation affects firms' takeover behavior. We employ two contemporaneous proxies for market misvaluation, pre-takeover book/price ratios and pre-takeover ratios of residual income model value to price. Misvaluation of bidders and targets influences the means of payment chosen, the mode of acquisition, the premia paid, target hostility to the offer, the likelihood of offer success, and bidder and target announcement period stock returns. The evidence is broadly supportive of the misvaluation hypothesis.

Keywords: takeovers, misvaluation, market efficiency, behavioral finance

JEL Classification: G34, G14, G31