Acquiring Organizational Capital

Acquisitions of organizational capital produce significant positive gains for acquiring-firm shareholders. Consistent with theories, acquirers benefit more from buying organizational capital when acquirer and target are from related industry, when the deal is stock financed, when target size is large relative to acquirer and when acquirer managers exhibit high ability prior to merger. Acquirers buying high organizational capital targets not only experience higher announcement returns, but also improvement in post-merger operating performance and higher long-run stock returns. Overall, our paper uncovers a new channel where firms can get access to valuable organizational assets and documents it is beneficial for acquirer shareholders.