MARC Research

This report explores how valuation multiples differ between private equity and corporate acquirers in global M&A transactions. Drawing on data from the early 2000s to 2024, it shows that the traditional private equity valuation discount is highly cyclical and influenced by market conditions, financing availability, and competition.

The findings reveal significant variations across industries, regions, and economic cycles, particularly during the Global Financial Crisis and COVID-19 period. The report highlights that valuation outcomes are driven more by market dynamics and deal characteristics than by buyer type alone.

This report examines how rising geopolitical risk is reshaping global mergers and acquisitions in an increasingly uncertain business environment. Analysing more than 194,000 deals across 143 countries over three decades, the study shows that geopolitical risk has become a key factor influencing deal pricing, timing, and financing.

The findings reveal that companies often delay acquisitions and prioritise financial flexibility during periods of heightened uncertainty. The report highlights the growing importance of geopolitical considerations in corporate investment and takeover decisions.

This report introduces a Cross-Border M&A Attractiveness Index, developed using the methodology of the annual M&A Attractiveness Index Scores (MAAIS). Drawing on the latest available data, it evaluates 148 countries across 19 indicators grouped into six key categories, including regulatory, economic, technological, and ESG factors.

The report focuses exclusively on assessing the attractiveness of countries for cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Its findings provide insights into the factors influencing international M&A activity and investment decisions.

This report explores whether textual information in corporate filings can help identify companies likely to become targets of shareholder activism. Using a state-of-the-art Large Language Model (LLM), the study analyses the Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) sections of U.S. public company 10-K filings from 2005 to 2020.

The findings demonstrate that unstructured textual data can reveal important signals overlooked by traditional financial metrics. The research highlights the value of LLMs and natural language processing in predicting significant corporate events.

The MARC M&A Attractiveness Index Score (MAAIS) provides an update based on 2025 data and analysis, ranking a total of 148 countries worldwide.

The Index provides for each country a percentage figure which indicates its attractiveness for domestic and in-bound M&A purposes, i.e., its ability to attract and sustain business activity.

This paper examines in-market acquisitions of family-owned industrial and engineering businesses in the UK and why they require a differentiated deal approach. Drawing on research, case studies and practitioner interviews, it highlights how family ownership dynamics, informal governance and emotional attachment shape strategy, valuation and due diligence.

The report proposes three core pre-deal pillars that underpin successful transactions and explains how acquirers can unlock customer loyalty, brand strength and specialist capabilities while managing succession and relationship risks.

This study analyses how equity markets price ‘green’ versus fossil-based M&A by European oil and gas acquirers. Using an event-study of 138 deals between 2010 and 2025 and cross-sectional regressions, it estimates cumulative abnormal returns around announcements and tests whether target type, the post-Paris Agreement period, cross-border status and acquirer region influence value creation.

The research clarifies when green M&A is rewarded or penalised and how energy-transition positioning interacts with traditional value drivers.

This report investigates how political uncertainty affects M&A volumes, structures and value outcomes using a dataset of over 3,000 deals. It shows that heightened political uncertainty depresses overall deal activity, yet acquisitions undertaken in such periods often generate stronger announcement returns.

The analysis distinguishes material risks, notably around economic policy, trade, taxation and environmental regulation, from more manageable political process, health, security and technology risks, helping boards target due diligence on exposures most likely to undermine value creation.

This paper reviews UK higher education mergers and acquisitions as a strategic response to financial pressure, competition and changing student demand. It explains how deals can strengthen resilience by pooling resources, broadening academic portfolios and achieving operational efficiencies, often through serial transactions.

The analysis also highlights recurrent challenges around cultural integration, short-term financial strain and complex systems alignment, drawing on case evidence to show how leadership, communication and rigorous upfront planning improve the prospects of successful transformation.

The MARC M&A Attractiveness Index Score (MAAIS) provides an update based on 2024 data and analysis, ranking a total of 148 countries worldwide.

The Index provides for each country a percentage figure which indicates its attractiveness for domestic and in-bound M&A purposes, i.e., its ability to attract and sustain business activity.

This research evaluates mergers & acquisitions and private equity strategies of value creation at the intersection of the automotive and software sectors due to the development of new technologies.

Shareholder activism has become an established strategy to instigate corporate change for many investment funds. During the first half of 2024, the number of activist campaigns rose by 29% compared to the historical five-year average. The number of first-time activists continues to grow, with higher numbers of region- and sector specific activist funds. These new activist funds are typically established by individuals with strong previous performance and diverse experience at leading activist platforms.

The Mergers and Acquisitions Research Centre at Bayes Business School has been working closely with SS&C Intralinks on a research about the rising importance of artificial intelligence (AI) in the both M&A deals and the process that drives that deal activity.

This paper looks at three topics:

• ‘The Future of M&A: How AI Will Shape the M&A Deal Process’ (reviewing the differing impacts of AI, Big Data and Machine Learning on each of the steps in the M&A deal process)
• ‘Hot Deals, Cool Tech – AIPowered, Automated Due Diligence for Enhancing M&A Decision-Making’ (which demonstrates how AI-driven data analytics and robotic process automation (RPA) can streamline document analysis, risk assessment and data extraction)
• Transforming M&A Strategies: The Pioneering Role of NLP’ (which discusses how Natural Language Processing (NLP), a machine learning technology powered by artificial intelligence, can sift through vast quantities of data, highlight specific information and provide deep insights on risks and opportunities of a transaction).

Important questions arise as to whether the use of analytics—the process of collection, transformation, and organization of data to draw conclusions, make predictions, and drive informed decision making (whether descriptive, predictive, prescriptive or diagnostic, as described below) can help mitigate M&A failure.

What are the types of analytics available for use in M&A in the UK? What are the specific challenges in fintech M&As and how can analytics be utilised to address them? And finally, are there any limitations to adopting analytics in the M&A in the UK and if so, how can they be mitigated?

Whether it's the global pandemic, political upheaval in the UK, rising interest rates, geopolitical turmoil, or the impact of climate change, one constant theme prevails -- a pervasive sense of uncertainty. This research explores the impact of uncertainty on M&A outcomes.

Recognising that uncertainties impact various factors and that M&A is an outcome dependent on a mix of prevailing macro and micro factors, it is crucial to understand the influence of uncertainty on M&A.

The MARC M&A Attractiveness Index Score (MAAIS) provides an update based on 2023 data and analysis, ranking a total of 148 countries worldwide.

The Index provides for each country a percentage figure which indicates its attractiveness for domestic and in-bound M&A purposes, i.e., its ability to attract and sustain business activity.

Around the globe, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors continue to have significant implications for M&A transactions. ESG considerations are critical from the early stages of the M&A process, when a transaction is merely being contemplated, and remain relevant throughout the due diligence, negotiation, closing as well as post-closing integration phases.

This report adds new insights by analysing the relevance of pre-deal target and acquirer ESG performance on three aspects of M&A transactions: the size of the acquisition premium, post-deal ESG performance, and post-deal financial performance. This report looks at each of the ESG pillars separately.

New technologies (like AI and generative media) are providing companies with advertising tools and opportunities that they’ve never seen before. Each tool also offers companies a new way to engage with consumers through advertising and to provide an immersive brand experience.

In this report we examine the impact of investment in advertising activities by targets on M&A deal outcomes.

The energy transition (ET) has until recently been thought to pose a real and existential threat to oil and gas (O&G) companies. Activist investors exert significant pressure on O&G firms to intensify their efforts towards ET, with a 65% increase in climate related activist investor campaigns between 2015 – 2019 versus the previous half decade.

This report analyses over 8,000 transactions made by the O&G sector since the year 2000 to understand performance following acquisitions. This is combined with twelve executive interviews with a combined 250+ years of deal-making experience.

This report looks at the updates to M&A data, focussing on how the reported data changes following the initial release of the data.

This is of critical importance to researchers and executives alike given that decisions based on figures with data revisions can lead to inconsistent results from different versions of the data, particularly if the degree and direction of the revisions is not understood.

The MARC M&A Attractiveness Index Score (MAAIS) provides an update based on 2022 data and analysis, ranking a total of 148 countries worldwide.

The Index provides for each country a percentage figure which indicates its attractiveness for domestic and in-bound M&A purposes, i.e., its ability to attract and sustain business activity.

The MARC M&A Attractiveness Index Score (MAAIS) provides an update based on 2021 data and analysis, ranking a total of 148 countries worldwide.

The Index provides for each country a percentage figure which indicates its attractiveness for domestic and in-bound M&A purposes, i.e., its ability to attract and sustain business activity.

This supplement to the annual MARC M&A Attractiveness Index Score (MAAIS) provides a look at the impact of Covid-19 on deal activity and country-level rankings.

This report seeks to add new insights to the impact of protectionism on cross-border M&A performance, which has had a re-emergence in recent years to 30% of all deal activity. This report adds new insights to the impact of protectionism on cross-border M&A performance.

Our findings are based on interviews with industry professionals and quantitative analysis of short- and long-term deal performance. Synonymous with country restrictiveness for the purpose of this report, protectionism in M&A refers to country level factors that influence and may impede cross-border transactions.

Mergers and acquisitions often involve major labour restructuring in the post-deal stage to generate synergy values through improved efficiency and reduced costs.

While labour restructuring is a key component of M&A deal integration, the effect of labour restructuring-related laws is less explored, as most existing studies focus on issues such as antitrust policy. This study fills that gap.

ESG is highly topical in investment banking. Though debates around the identity that ESG takes in the market exist, the focus of this report is the impact on valuations, and shareholder wealth on Oil & Gas industry participants as consequence of ESG-driven strategic planning by firms.

This paper explores the historic reasons for M&A failure, how the pandemic is impacting the M&A deal process and assess what early learnings about the Covid-19 impact may impact M&A success in a post-pandemic landscape.

There has been an increasing level of awareness from both governments and the public about the importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues but little has been written about this topic related to emerging markets.

This report therefore focuses on the emerging markets impact of M&A on ESG performance.

The MARC M&A Attractiveness Index Score (MAAIS) provides an update based on 2020 data and analysis, ranking a total of 148 countries worldwide.

The Index provides for each country a percentage figure which indicates its attractiveness for domestic and in-bound M&A purposes, i.e., its ability to attract and sustain business activity.

The MARC M&A Attractiveness Index Score (MAAIS) provides an update based on 2019 data and analysis, ranking a total of 148 countries worldwide.

The Index provides for each country a percentage figure which indicates its attractiveness for domestic and in-bound M&A purposes, i.e., its ability to attract and sustain business activity.

In this paper we explore whether a gap in environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores between target and acquiring companies improves ESG scores due primarily to the role of learning and the capability transfer in the process of post-deal integration.

This paper looks at the relatively unexplored flip side of corporate acquisition – divestment – and explores value creation for parent companies across three sectors: global technology, media and telecommunications (TMT), global oil and gas (O&G) and US pharmaceuticals.

While good corporate governance drove most divestments before the financial crisis of 2008, the majority of divestments in the postcrisis period were due to either regulatory requirements or financial pressures. Then, as the economy moved toward recovery from 2012 onwards, motives behind divestments shifted toward strategic realignment.

Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) investing has experienced a surge in activity in recent years, with the number of active investors doubling in the past five years. CVC units can help parent companies gain access to the “bleeding edge” of innovation, creating an understanding of new opportunities and threats to their business.

This paper deconstructs the current boom in CVC investments and explores corporate trends and successful innovation strategies in deploying CVC units to combat existential threats from competitive new technologies.

This paper explores how digital technologies are rapidly transforming the banking and financial services sector and what is driving M&A activity in that sector as big incumbent banks try to keep pace with unprecedented innovation, regulation and customer demand whilst manage the onslaught of fintech start-ups eroding their customer base.

This paper looks at leadership in the UK’s third sector and the current drivers of M&A activity for the not-for-profit (NFP) sector.

With an emphasis on practical and strategic guidance, we provide clear recommendations for CEOs, senior executives and trustees to help them understand and assess the benefits of a merger, broker a deal and successfully navigate the integration of people and resources for greater social impact.

With an increased emphasis on environmental issues, this report examines the environmental impact of firms involved in acquisition deals, such as how a firm’s environmental performance changes dynamically before and after a deal.

Another question answered in this study is that if a firm manages to overcome integration challenges and does deliver post completion economic gains, does that, in turn, contribute to an improvement in the environmental standard of the firm.

This paper looks at the impact of the digital revolution on M&A deals and deconstructs the current boom in M&A activity within the global high technology industry, driven by the perception of enhanced value creation.

This paper analyses the role of technology and IT in M&A activity and also explore M&A deals within the high-technology sector itself by focusing on how technology supports new growth strategies, including the advent of AI (Artificial Intelligence).

This paper looks at the impact of fluctuating exchange rates on the volume of cross-border M&A (CBMA) and – in a modern era of unprecedented currency volatility – asks if being able to get ‘more bang for your buck’ currency-wise can sweeten M&A deals and improve an acquirer’s post-deal performance.

The MARC M&A Attractiveness Index Score (MAAIS) provides an update based on 2018 data and analysis, ranking a total of 148 countries worldwide.

The Index provides for each country a percentage figure which indicates its attractiveness for domestic and in-bound M&A purposes, i.e., its ability to attract and sustain business activity.

The financial crisis led to an increase in the share of acquisitions involving distressed targets. While we don’t know when the next crisis will happen one of the few things we can be sure of in financial markets is that one day there will be another one, throwing up distressed acquisition opportunities.

This report looks at past distressed acquisitions with a motivation to better prepare us for the future

In this report, we show that firms actively manage their dividend policy towards the preferences of their investors. We use a novel setting, namely, merger-induced changes in the shareholder base, in order to establish this effect.

Acquiring firms adjust their dividend policy towards that of the target when they inherit target firm shareholders through a stock-swap transaction. These activities are more pronounced when the target represents a larger part of the combined firm and when dividends are tax-advantaged

In this paper, we look at three main questions: 1) are more synergies generated by a deal the more the deal concentrates a market, 2) if a company doing such a deal (a deal within its own sector), are there certain qualities about the targets you should be looking at and 3) are there aspects of the acquiring firm that will influence the success or failure of these deals?

This paper investigates if certain financial advisors (notably, top-tier investment banks and/or accounting firms) are better equipped in delivering long-term value to UK acquisitions.

This report adds new insights into the UK M&A market both before and since the financial crash of 2007/8 by better understanding the UK market for financial advisors who help close acquisition deals in one of the biggest economies in the world.

One of the most challenging decisions for a company is whether to diversify in an unrelated industry.

Such a strategy can lead to superior rewards but can also entail high risks. CEO industry expertise can be an important asset in connecting the two different worlds. Indeed, the fact that most of the M&A literature highlights the poor performance of unrelated acquisitions leads us to think that it is the absence of industry-specific experience and knowledge that is driving these results.

Therefore, this report sets to explore whether the industry-specific skills and knowledge held by the target firm’s CEO can impact acquisition success.

The MARC M&A Attractiveness Index Score (MAAIS) provides an update based on 2017 data and analysis, ranking a total of 148 countries worldwide.

The Index provides for each country a percentage figure which indicates its attractiveness for domestic and in-bound M&A purposes, i.e., its ability to attract and sustain business activity.

Using the MARC M&A Attractiveness Index, an analysis was conducted to look specifically on the impact on M&A deal activity of Russia’s invasion of the Crimea, interference in the Ukraine, a large list of companies blacklisted overseas, concerns over the openness of the next election and accusations of interference in the US presidential election.

Hedge funds may have become an accepted part of the governance universe but are they actually adding value? The observed outperformance may not be due to a hedge fund’s ability to contribute to value creation but a mere reflection of their stock picking abilities.

The difficulty is in identifying those companies that would have made typical hedge fund targets but which were not actually targeted, i.e. build an appropriate group of comparable companies. We have developed a statistical model to identify these companies.

For a target company with a pension deficit, the acquirer will need to consider how to minimise risk (probably through the choice of acquisition currency used such as cash, stock, or some mixture of each) and whether pension risk, which is by its nature open ended, should be a reason not to do the deal at all. These two questions are the focus of this report.

This research study provides a comprehensive analysis of the key drivers of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) activity in Europe.

Unsurprisingly, we find that the higher the level of an M&A transaction threatening to harm rival firms through increased market concentration, the lower the likelihood of the announced deal to be completed because of regulatory intervention. Also, regulatory intervention makes M&A deals in regulated industries (financials; energy and power; telecommunications) more difficult to be completed.

In addition, a supportive country-specific institutional environment (e.g., legal enforcement) is essential for higher level M&A activity, while country-level capital market growth is not. And lastly, the euro drives deal completion rates in Eurozone countries compared to those in non-eurozone.

Whether a conglomerate is an efficient model for a business has been a question for the markets for many years. And it’s not just a question of conglomerates being potentially undervalued because they have units whose value is not recognised in the share price.

This study looks at the three options for a conglomerate CEO:  spin-off (distribute shares in a subsidiary to your own shareholders), sell-off (sell a subsidiary either in a full IPO or trade sale) or carve-out (through an IPO with a retaining minority stake in a subsidiary).

This report focuses on the post-M&A innovative performance of companies which might have long-term strategic consequences and hopefully eventually lead to increased economic performance.

Using a global sample of 1,013 transactions with announcement dates between 2000 and 2015, this report researches the relationship between M&A and innovation performance of companies active in the information technology industry for up to three post-M&A years.

The MARC M&A Attractiveness Index Score (MAAIS) provides an update based on 2016 data and analysis, ranking a total of 148 countries worldwide.

The Index provides for each country a percentage figure which indicates its attractiveness for domestic and in-bound M&A purposes, i.e., its ability to attract and sustain business activity.

As executives turn to M&A to deliver the expected growth, companies need to develop their own repeatable methodologies for dealing with the different phases of a transaction to reduce business risk and costs and maintain consistency with how M&A projects are executed.

In addition a company well regarded in M&A execution will be rewarded by the market with a greater capacity to finance further M&A. This report in collaboration with WTW uncovers how a group of serial acquirers has overcome challenges posed by multiple acquisitions and what challenges they still face.

First movers have historically been feted for their strategic motivations in pursuing M&A and the advantages gained from moving early, such as the availability of attractive targets.

In contrast, late followers have been characterised as firms that exemplify irrational behaviour as they are compelled by competitive pressures to mimic the actions of their rivals without a logical rationale for the motivations underlying the M&A announcement.

In this report we tested the difference in performance between first movers and late followers using a sample of global M&A deals for two periods.

The number of Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) units worldwide doubled between 2012 and 2014. There is general academic agreement that CVC has a positive effect on firm performance, although the studies caution that these benefits are not guaranteed and ventures may take several years to become profitable, as with any VC investment.

Furthermore, recent studies provide empirical evidence to substantiate the claim that CVC-backed ventures fare better than independent venture capitalist-backed ones, as well as indicating that CVC-backed entrepreneurial ventures receive higher valuations at IPO compared to ventures funded solely by traditional VCs.

This report looks at recent data to test whether there is a change to the CVC ‘industry’.

M&A deals have historically been viewed as being negative for the acquiring company, but for many who use more recent data, M&A acquisitions are now seen as being more positive. But is this actually the case, and if so, is it universal or are there certain factors driving that deal success or failure?

The MARC M&A Attractiveness Index Score (MAAIS) provides an update based on 2015 data and analysis, ranking a total of 148 countries worldwide.

The Index provides for each country a percentage figure which indicates its attractiveness for domestic and in-bound M&A purposes, i.e., its ability to attract and sustain business activity.

What does the fall in the oil price mean for M&A in the sector? This study takes a statistical approach to the question, which cuts through the newspaper headlines and editorial suppositions to see what really drives M&A in the Oil & Gas sector.

The MARC M&A Attractiveness Index Score (MAAIS) provides an update based on 2014 data and analysis, ranking a total of 148 countries worldwide.

The Index provides for each country a percentage figure which indicates its attractiveness for domestic and in-bound M&A purposes, i.e., its ability to attract and sustain business activity.

A new study into the announcement of M&A deals finds that quality matters – clear, proactive announcements are strongly related to deal success.

This study found a clear impact on deal consummation and short-term shareholder returns from what it defines as “good quality” M&A announcements.

This comprehensive study of the M&A environment in distressed times looked at the determinants of acquisitions of distressed and insolvent targets and measured differences in deal success. The study also incorporates research on relevant M&A activity and economic cycles.

The study includes all industries on a macro level except Financial Services and Government and Agencies In light of differences in deal drivers and structure, this study focuses on ‘trade’ deals as opposed to so‐called financial sponsor deals (such as private equity‐backed acquisitions) which have been excluded throughout.

Reverse takeovers (RTOs), or reverse mergers (RMs) as they are usually referred to in the US, have received some negative press coverage and regulatory attention.

This new study confirms that reverse takeovers (RTOs), or reverse mergers (RMs) as they are usually referred to in the US, can offer companies a viable alternative to the initial public offering (IPO) route to the public market, through a variety of structures.

This report provides insights on what distinguishes successful deals, covering all stages in the M&A process.

It compares those deals which have been successful in terms of creating shareholder value with a matched sample of those where shareholder value has been destroyed since the completion of the transaction. It also provides a survey of 31 professionals focusing on their views of the role of HR in M&A transaction success.

Cash reserves function as a corporate safety net. But is the cash at companies’ disposal in excess of the so-called ‘sufficient cash level’? How do companies tend to spend this ‘excess cash’, and which spending strategy has the potential to generate the highest returns for shareholders?

This report performed an in-depth analysis of the factors which determine the cash levels which companies need to keep at hand, the spending habits of UK corporates and the cash disposal strategies which are most successful, including acquisitions.

The study followed 1,559 companies for the 1,000 days after their first day of trading and the sample includes IPOs which listed their shares on either the UK Main exchange (Main) or on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).

The corporate event activity analysis is focused on ‘external’ corporate events announced by the newly listed firms, including M&A, Seasoned Equity Offerings (SEO) and divestitures.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) in the UK, asked the M&A Research Centre to investigate the efficacy of UK M&A activity as a strategy for growing and enhancing the profitability and efficiency of UK businesses.

Based on the analysis of combined target and acquirer wealth creation (share price returns) around the time of the announcement of the acquisition, we find evidence that M&A activity does generate economic benefits for the UK economy in the short term.

This report investigated institutional investors’ ability to correctly determine and communicate, through change in their ownership in the acquiring company, the merits of cross-border M&A transactions.

This report looks at the corporate events that happen when a new CEO arrives, as often they are hired with a mandate for change. Even if not, the new CEO is likely to want to act relatively quickly to leave his or her imprint on the organisation.

How do newly-appointed CEOs use M&A deals to change the strategic course of the firm? Are they likely to invest or divest assets? And who are most successful?

This report focuses on four major European countries - France, Germany, Spain and the UK - and includes CEO changes of companies listed on CAC, DAX, IBEX and the FTSE 100.

This research report focuses on collaboration between firms through joint ventures and shows that this type of deal structure can be an effective tool for managing risk.

The report examines the reasons and rationale behind joint ventures, the effect they have on company risk and their key success factors. Finally, we examine the duration of joint ventures together with potential exit strategies.