Session 9: Corporate Finance: Financing and Control Issues Reading 31: Mergers and Acquisitions
LOS b: Explain the common motivations behind M&A activity.
Which of the following motives for mergers least likely makes economic sense?
A) |
Diversification and reduced borrowing costs. | |
B) |
Surplus funds and vertical integration. | |
C) |
Complementary resources and eliminating inefficiencies. | |
Diversification does not make economic sense for company shareholders. It is much easier and cheaper for the shareholders to diversify simply by investing in the shares of unrelated companies themselves rather than expend the time and resources necessary to go through a merger. Similarly, merging to simply reduce financing costs is a misplaced argument since the lower cost of debt financing arises because of the greater security afforded bondholders. |