An investigation into the distribution of gains from merging

The thesis critically analyzes the economic and financial rationale for merging, both in order to gain some insight into why mergers might be profitable to shareholders, and in order to properly construct hypotheses and tests which might determine the profitability of merging to shareholders. A second purpose is to obtain evidence from monthly Stock Exchange share prices of abnormal gains and losses to shareholders in the U. K. Breweries and Distilleries industry companies as a result of mergers. The industry sample of seventy two mergers is also used to estimate the distribution of gains and losses between acquired and acquiring companies, and the gains from insider dealings by acquirers.