The Hidden Market for Corporate Control: Evidence from Latent Sales Attempts

Helen Bollaert
SKEMA Business School, France

Much research to date has focused on the acquiror firms, with a focus on the causes of value destruction in M&A. There is also research showing that acquirors who fail to complete a deal are more likely to become targets in the following years. What about the targets? This paper examines the future outcomes of target firms who miss an opportunity to sell themselves.

Results show that in subsequent years these firms:

• Are more likely to be acquired
• Are less likely to become acquirors
• Improve their operating performance
• Improve their financial situation

This tends to show that target firms who miss an opportunity to sell are not bad firms, but are exploring business combinations as part of a restructuring strategy, which they then achieve by other means.

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Helen Bollaert is a faculty member at SKEMA Business School and has been Director of the FAIRR research center since 2023. Her expertise lies in mergers and acquisitions, with a particular focus on behavioural aspects. She holds a Doctorate in Finance (2011) and HDR in Finance (2016) from the Université de Lille. Her research has been published in leading journals such as the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Small Business Economics, and Journal of Corporate Finance. With nearly two decades in academia, including roles at IÉSEG School of Management and SKEMA Business School, she previously served as Research Dean (2016–2020) and Head of the European Center for Corporate Control Studies (2013–2016).