David Becher Ph.D., associate professor of finance, was featured in an article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette about takeovers and the recent bid by Kraft Food's to acquire the British candy maker Cadbury. The article was also picked up by Business Week.
Dr. Becher said last week's culmination of Kraft Food's four-month fight to acquire British confectioner Cadbury fits with what he found when studying 104 hostile takeover bids made between 1993 and 2000.
In those contests, targeted companies that resisted the first offer got at least one additional offer from the same suitor or another bidder more than half of the time. Moreover, the final offer reflected a premium about 22 percentage points higher than the first bid and increased the likelihood of the offer being accepted.