Principles of Managerial Finance, 15th Edition

19.6 Mergers and Joint Ventures

1. LG6

The motives for domestic mergers—growth or diversification, synergy, fund raising, increased managerial skill or technology, tax considerations, increased ownership liquidity, and defense against takeover—are all applicable to MNCs’ international mergers and joint ventures. We should also consider several additional points.

First, international mergers and joint ventures, especially those involving European firms acquiring assets in the United States, increased significantly beginning in the 1980s. MNCs based in Western Europe, Japan, and North America are numerous. Moreover, a fast-growing group of MNCs has emerged in the past two decades, some based in the so-called newly industrialized countries (including ...