The timing and terms of mergers motivated by economies of scale

This paper analyzes the timing of mergers motivated by economies of scale. We show that firms have an incentive to merge in periods of economic expansion. Relaxing the assumption that firms are price takers, we find that market power strengthens the firms' incentive to merge and speeds up merger activity. Finally, comparing mergers with hostile takeovers we show that the way merger synergies are divided not only influences the acquirer's and the acquiree's returns from merging, but also the timing of the restructuring. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.