Determinants of Mergers and Acquisitions Success in Banking Industry

This paper is designed to investigate why previous researches fail to detect the synergies and benefits of combination, what are the determinants of M&A success in banking industry, and to what extent can these determinants influence the post-merger performance. Multiple regression analysis is performed on a data sample of 39 M&A cases in banking industry over 2001-2009 to estimate the relationship between explanatory variables and the dependent variable. The results indicate that, mergers tend to generate more benefits for combination of two banks rather than a bank and a nonbank financial service provider, such as insurance companies or real estate firms. For one year post-merger period, geographic focus of a transaction does not have a significant impact on the outcome of combination. Scale economy may not be shortly realized or reflected on the shareholder values, while cross-border deals can be profitable by obtaining lower labour cost or exploiting demand from market abroad. The combination is generally more successful if the target entity enjoyed a high and promising pre-merger growth rate. In addition, no significant relationship between relative size and merger gains has been observed. To acquire a target relatively small, the process of integration is less complicated, and the target is easier to understand, monitor and control, which consequently lead to a huge saving in transition cost. To acquire a target of similar size, redundancy is easier to identify, monopolistic power will be enhanced to a larger extent after the combination. As a result, if managers are able to adopt proper strategies according to different sizes, advantages of either case can be fulfilled. However, managers may undertake acquisitions for their private interest, such as positioning acquisition and defensive acquisition. Furthermore, the results show that a relative profitable bidder does not necessarily guarantee a high stock market return, as the relative ratio can be misleading due to mathematical reasons. It is more likely for a target with a high profit ratio to achieve merger efficiency. As for an underperformed target, bidder has to devote more time and money, such as the additional wage costs to replace the poor management team in the target entity. Finally, the advantage of cash dominant transaction is evident. Financial strength is proved to be a solid support for a profitable merger, which also effectively raises market confidence of investors

Determinants of Mergers and Acquisitions Success in Banking Industry

This paper is designed to investigate why previous researches fail to detect the synergies and benefits of combination, what are the determinants of M&A success in banking industry, and to what extent can these determinants influence the post-merger performance. Multiple regression analysis is performed on a data sample of 39 M&A cases in banking industry over 2001-2009 to estimate the relationship between explanatory variables and the dependent variable. The results indicate that, mergers tend to generate more benefits for combination of two banks rather than a bank and a nonbank financial service provider, such as insurance companies or real estate firms. For one year post-merger period, geographic focus of a transaction does not have a significant impact on the outcome of combination. Scale economy may not be shortly realized or reflected on the shareholder values, while cross-border deals can be profitable by obtaining lower labour cost or exploiting demand from market abroad. The combination is generally more successful if the target entity enjoyed a high and promising pre-merger growth rate. In addition, no significant relationship between relative size and merger gains has been observed. To acquire a target relatively small, the process of integration is less complicated, and the target is easier to understand, monitor and control, which consequently lead to a huge saving in transition cost. To acquire a target of similar size, redundancy is easier to identify, monopolistic power will be enhanced to a larger extent after the combination. As a result, if managers are able to adopt proper strategies according to different sizes, advantages of either case can be fulfilled. However, managers may undertake acquisitions for their private interest, such as positioning acquisition and defensive acquisition. Furthermore, the results show that a relative profitable bidder does not necessarily guarantee a high stock market return, as the relative ratio can be misleading due to mathematical reasons. It is more likely for a target with a high profit ratio to achieve merger efficiency. As for an underperformed target, bidder has to devote more time and money, such as the additional wage costs to replace the poor management team in the target entity. Finally, the advantage of cash dominant transaction is evident. Financial strength is proved to be a solid support for a profitable merger, which also effectively raises market confidence of investors

Influence of Polymer Matrices on the Tensile and Impact Properties of Long Fiber-Reinforced Thermoplastic Composites

To investigate the influence of polymer matrices on the tensile and impact properties of long fiber-reinforced thermoplastic (LFT) composites, composites of long basalt fiber-reinforced thermoplastic were developed in this work. Two types of polyethylene, namely 8008 and 100S, and two types of polyethylene, namely C4220 and K8303, were chosen as the matrices. The fiber volume fractions were set as 2.8%, 5.9%, 8.1%, and 10.6%. The melt flow index (MFI), crystallinity, tensile properties, impact strength, and fracture morphology of the neat polymers and the corresponding composites were tested. The composites of 8008 showed the highest tensile strength since neat 8008 showed a much higher MFI value and crystallinity. The composites of 8008 and K8303 showed a much higher tensile modulus since the neat thermoplastic showed a higher tensile modulus than the other two composites. The polymer toughness was the factor that determined whether the polymer could be toughened by fibers. Moreover, the interfacial shear strength was calculated and compared with the matrix shear strength, based on which fracture modes of the LFT were predicted. Effective methods were proposed for further improvement of the mechanical properties. The results of this paper were essential for attaining the anticipated properties when designing LFT composites

Lysyl Oxidase, A Critical Intra- and Extra-Cellular Target in the Lung for Cigarette Smoke Pathogenesis

Cigarette smoke (CS), a complex chemical mixture, contains more than 4,800 different compounds, including oxidants, heavy metals, and carcinogens, that individually or in combination initiate or promote pathogenesis in the lung accounting for 82% of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) deaths and 87% of lung cancer deaths. Lysyl oxidase (LO), a Cu-dependent enzyme, oxidizes peptidyl lysine residues in collagen, elastin and histone H1, essential for stabilization of the extracellular matrix and cell nucleus. Considerable evidences have shown that LO is a tumor suppressor as exemplified by inhibiting transforming activity of ras, a proto oncogene. CS condensate (CSC), 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) and cadmium (Cd), major components of CS, down-regulate LO expression at such multiple levels as mRNA, protein and catalytic activity in lung cells in vitro and in vivo indicating LO as a critical intra- and extracellular target for CS pathogenesis in the lung. In view of multiple biological functions and regulation characteristics of the LO gene, molecular mechanisms for CS damage to lung LO and its role in emphysema and cancer pathogenesis are discussed in this review

Synthesis of carbon-coated Co3O4 composite with dendrite-like morphology and its electrochemical performance for lithium-ion batteries

International audienceCarbon-coated Co3O4 microparticles (Co3O4@C) with dendrite-like morphology are prepared by a low-temperature hydrothermal method and subsequent C2H2 chemical vapor deposition (CVD) for the first time. The synthesized precursor Co3O4 has a size of 8-10 lm, which is assembled by lots of aligned Co3O4 wire with 4-5 lm in length. After carbon coating, Co3O4 microparticles were proved to be coated in amorphous carbon of *10 nm. A plausible formation process of the dendrite-like Co3O4 and Co3O4@C is proposed based on the morphology and structure characterizations of the materials. As an anode material for lithium-ion batteries, the Co3O4@C composite electrode exhibit

A New Method of GPS Water Vapor Tomography for Maximizing the Use of Signal Rays

The spatio-temporal distribution of atmospheric water vapor information can be obtained by global positioning system (GPS) water vapor tomography. GPS signal rays pass through the tomographic area from different boundaries because the scope of the research region (latitude, longitude, and altitude) is designated in the process of tomographic modeling, the influence of the geographic distribution of receivers, and the geometric location of satellite constellations. Traditionally, only signal rays penetrating the entire tomographic area are considered in the computation of water vapor information, whereas those passing through the sides are neglected. Therefore, the accuracy of the tomographic result, especially at the bottom of the area, does not reach its full potential. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a new method that simultaneously considers the discretized tomographic voxels and the troposphere outside the research area as unknown parameters. This method can effectively improve the utilization of existing GPS observations and increase the number of voxels crossed by satellite signals, especially by increasing the proportion of voxels penetrated. A tomographic experiment is implemented using GPS data from the Hong Kong Satellite Positioning Reference Station Network. Compared to the traditional method, the proposed method increases the number of voxels crossed by signal rays and the utilization of the observed data by 15.14% and 19.68% on average, respectively. Numerical results, including comparisons of slant water vapor (SWV), precipitable water vapor (PWV), and water vapor density profile, show that the proposed method is better than traditional methods. In comparison to the water vapor density profile, the root-mean-square error (RMS), mean absolute error (MAE), standard deviation (SD), and bias of the proposed method are 1.39, 1.07, 1.30, and −0.21 gm−3, respectively. For the SWV and PWV comparison, the RMS/MAE of the proposed method are 10.46/8.17 mm and 4.00/3.39 mm, respectively

Experimental Study on the Propagation Law of Explosive Stress Wave in Cement Mortar with Weak Layers

The weak layer has good attenuation performance when it comes to the explosive stress wave, which can be used in protective structures. In this paper, a cement mortar specimen was designed, cast, and tested. Under inner explosion, due to the expansion of air in the explosive hole, the tensile cracks formed around the explosive hole are mainly in a damage pattern. In ordinary cement mortar, the transmittance is decreasing as the distance increases. At a distance of 8 cm to 14 cm from the explosive center, the average transmittance is 50.16%, 12 cm to 18 cm, while the average transmittance is 62.89%, increasing by 12.73%. Adding one weak layer into the cement mortar, the transmittance of one weak layer is 43.37%. The effect of increasing weak layers in short spacing is not obvious, and the transmittance of the second and third weak layer is about 80%, much less than the first layer. The softer the weak layer and the larger the wave impedance, the smaller the transmission coefficient is. The research proves that the weak layer has excellent attenuation performance when it comes to the explosive stress wave