Mergers Under the Microscope

UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY SYDNEY
Finance Department
Research Seminars in Finance

Fangyuan Ma

Topic: Mergers Under the Microscope: Analyzing Conference Call Transcripts

Speaker: Fangyuan Ma, Peking University

Abstract: About half of all merger deals between public US acquirers and targets involve a conference call within two days of the deal announcement, ostensibly to communicate information to both acquirer and target shareholders, garner voting support, and mitigate legal liability. Calls are associated with positive market reactions and a higher likelihood of deal completion. However, for public targets, only the latter result holds after correcting for endogeneity. Using a probabilistic topic modelling approach, we identify 20 highly interpretable topics as prevalent in the presentations and discussions recorded in the transcripts. The topic distribution of these calls is significantly associated with target characteristics (e.g., whether the target is a private or a public firm), the method of payment, and acquirer characteristics (e.g., governance). The importance of several topics is associated with significant abnormal returns on deal announcement, and with deal completion likelihood.

Download paper

Moderator: Jing Xu, University of Technology Sydney

Date: Wednesday, 17th February 2021
Time: 12-1 pm (Australian Eastern Daylight Time)
Venue: This is on online Zoom webinar.

Seminar protocols:

  • The webinar will run for 45 minutes, followed by a 15 minute Q&A session.
  • There will be a moderator for each seminar event, who will facilitate communication and resolve any technical issues.
  • Participants can use the chat facility or raise their had to ask questions during the presentation. The moderator will then alert the speaker at the appropriate time and either ask the questions raised or unmute the participant so they can ask the question directly to the presenter.

Co-ordinator: Harry Scheule

Enquiries: Duncan Ford

Back to Finance seminars
Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.