No. 2026-04ディスカッション・ペーパー

Two-sided matching in the M&A market and performance

要約

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This study examines whether the widespread practice of assortative matching in the M&A market maximizes synergy gains. Using a sample of 727 transactions from the Japanese M&A market between 2000 and 2022, this study investigates, from a matching perspective, how differences in the characteristics of acquirors and targets across three dimensions (financial leverage, firm size, and firm age) affect the post-performance of target firms. The findings reveal that only differences in leverage significantly affect the target firm’s performance, and this effect is asymmetric. Subsequent analyses indicate that performance improvements are most pronounced when highly leveraged targets are acquired by low-leverage acquirors, whereas excessively high acquiror leverage hinders the realization of synergies. Furthermore, while SME targets exhibit greater overall performance improvements, the positive effect of leverage complementarity is significantly weakened. This study provides new empirical evidence for understanding the matching mechanisms and value creation logic in the M&A market.

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著者名　　　Hu Yunxiao

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