Trade Networks and Cross-Border Acquisitions: Evidence from United States Acquiring Firms

Abstract

This study examines the impact of the trade networks of target firms' nation on the announcement returns of the cross-border acquisitions of United States acquirers. By using a sample of 818 cross-border acquisitions during 2000-2007, we find that the centrality measure of trade networks has a positive impact on announcement returns, after controlling for Hofstede's cultural distance measure between the acquiring and target nations and various firm- and deal-specific factors. In sum, trade network analysis, based on strength centrality, better explains the performance of acquiring firms than does the bilateral trade openness measurement used in previous studies.