CDS investors’ risk perceptions of M&A announcements

We merge a sample of 492 merger and acquisition (M&A) announcements from 284 acquiring firms across North America and Europe with data from 5-year single-name credit default swaps (CDSs) that are written on stock-listed acquiring firms between 2005 and 2018. Subsequently, we empirically analyze the CDS investors’ risk perception of M&A announcements using event study methodologies. As a baseline finding, we provide evidence for significantly positive cumulative average abnormal CDS spread changes suggesting that CDS investors perceive an increase in the acquiring firms’ credit risk exposures due to M&A announcements. Our baseline finding holds under several robustness checks, especially when controlling for the robustness of the empirical design as well as regional and sectoral differences. Moreover, results from a large variety of sensitivity analyses including deal and firm characteristics provide a deeper insight into the driving factors of CDS investors’ risk perceptions of M&A announcements.