Short Term Wealth Creation Sustainability of French Acquirers of Unlisted versus Listed Firms

We study the listing target status impact on the announcement period of French acquirers, and we examine the sustainability of short term wealth creation in the long term. Unlisted-target acquisitions are wealth creating relative to listed-target acquisitions. Besides, in the long-term, acquirers of unlisted targets outperform acquirers of listed targets and realize superior abnormal stock returns. Acquirers of unlisted targets realize superior changes in post-acquisition operating performance, particularly for a low relative deal size ratio. Announcement period abnormal returns
are positively related to post-acquisition operating performance. Therefore, shortterm gains are sustainable on the long-term and the market can predict change in operating performance.
Keywords: Acquisitions, listing target status, short-term abnormal returns, long-term stock returns, post-acquisition operating performance.
JEL codes: G14, G34