A Dynamic Analysis Of Growth Via Acquisition

Firms have a choice: grow through internal investment, or grow through acquisition. While internal growth takes time, an acquisition provides cash flows immediately, as the acquirer benefits from the investments of previous owners. The opportunity to grow internally affects the price of an acquisition as it is a fall-back option for the acquirer should negotiations break down. Thus, internal growth opportunities speed up acquisitions when integration costs are significant or synergies not too great. Because investors do not have full information about the time a firm requires growing internally, acquirers earn positive returns before announcement of an acquisition, and there are negative stock price reactions to acquisition announcements for a wide range of parameter values.