Analysis of Effects of the European Monetary Union on Merger and Acquisition Activity in Europe

Analysis of Effects of the European Monetary Union on Merger and Acquisition Activity in Europe David Přerovský Abstract The aim of this thesis is to, firstly, analyze effects of the creation of the European Monetary Union (EMU) on cross-border merger and acquisition activity in Europe, and, secondly, to investigate whether joining the EMU after it had been established results in higher M&A activity. Our research utilizes the difference-in-differences and difference in difference in differences approaches in which we compare aggregate M&A activity in new adopters of the euro to that of a control country, whose aggregate M&A activity had followed a similar trend up until the adoption. These methods allow us to account for country-specific trends in M&A activity and the for the phenomenon of M&A waves. Our results show no evidence that creation of the EMU caused higher M&A activity among the members or higher M&A activity in general. For later joiners, no evidence of higher M&A activity as a result of adopting the euro is found either