Acquisition Targets and Motives: The Case of the Banking Industry

Findings do not indicate poorly-managed firms are more likely to be acquired than well-managed firms. The analysis uses a sample of 1,046Texas banks that existed in 1970, out of which 201 were acqui red during the period 1970-82. A multinomial logit procedure is used to estimate the relationship between the likelihood of acquisition and the characteristics of the target firm and its market. Additional results suggest that firms with la rge market shares, low capital/asset ratios, and operations in urban areas are r elatively likely to be acquired but not firms with low profits or low growth. Copyright 1987 by MIT Press.