Impact of corporate governance score on abnormal returns and financial performance of mergers and acquisitions

The present study attempts to investigate whether differences in the quality of firm level corporate governance standards influence performance of acquiring firms for a sample of companies by creating a corporate governance index. The study is based on a survey of sample of 155 companies having completed mergers and acquisitions deals announced during January 2003-December 2008. The paper analyzes the relationship between corporate governance practices of the acquiring firms and abnormal returns during event windows around the announcement of M&A and post-M&A financial performance of the acquirers. The results reveal a positive relationship between corporate governance standards and the performance of the acquiring firms in short-run as well as long-run.