The impact of industry shocks on takeover and restructuring activity

We study industry-level patterns in takeover and restructuring activity during the 1982-1989 period. Across 51 industries, we find significant differences in both the rate and time-series clustering of these activities, The interindustry patterns in the rate of takeovers and restructurings are directly related to the economic shocks borne by the sample industries. These results support the argument that much of the takeover activity during the 1980s was driven by broad fundamental factors and have general implications for the stock price spillover effects of takeover announcements; corporate performance following takeovers, and the timing of takeover waves.