The Long-Term Success of Mergers and Acquisitions in the International

It is precisely the kind of highly variable success that Schaeffler KG was forced to endure during its acquisitions of FAG Kugelfischer and Continental, which provides a telling account of the myriad potential consequences of mergers and acquisitions in the automotive supply industry. The global competitive landscape for automotive s- pliers is wholly unique, and not just because its consumers and key customers, the automotive manufacturers, have joined together in an ever-narrowing oligopoly over the last twenty years, nor because the current focus on suppliers is already helping restore an increasingly stable balance of power. Since automotive manufacturers serve international markets, the competitive environment for suppliers has also always been transnational. This becomes all the more relevant when we consider recent shifts in the automotive manufacturing value chain. Meanwhile, some suppliers are producing a higher value contribution during constr- tion of a car than the actual manufacturer. In these situations, international M&A tra- actions seem especially attractive, and should, in actual fact, generate positive reactions on the capital markets. But is that really the case? Studies looking specifically into the long-term success of international M&A transactions have been a rare commodity until now, the current state of knowledge on the success of acquisitions in the automotive supplier industry is even more limited, and the transferability of evidence based on - periences in other sectors is highly questionable.

As a result of economic and structural changes, the automotive supply industry has been facing significant consolidation activity over the last twenty years. The pressure to produce better equipped and less expensive automobiles has created a growing trend towards specialization and internationalization. c (M&A) are now considered as a common strategic response to this trend.Based on a sample of 230 M&A between 1981 and 2007, Jan-Peer Laabs challenges the short-term return behavior of acquirers in this industry in contrast to their long-term performance based on capital market and financial accounting information. For this purpose, he combines the two most advanced and updated capital market methodologies with a thorough analysis of published accounting information. A clearly negative yet consistent perspective on the long-term value creation potential emerges across the different empirical analyses. Over the three years following M&A transactions, acquirers appear to lose significant value. However, an additional case study on the takeover of Siemens VDO by Continental AG offers a number of valuable key success factors and insights on how to evade the negative return destiny.

Research Foundations.- Study 1: Determinants of Capital Market Performance.- Study 2: Does Operating Performance Meet Market Expectations?.- Study 3: How a Good Bidder Becomes a Good Target - The Case of Continental AG Acquiring Siemens VDO.- Conclusion.