UK acquirers' acquistions from 2000 to 2015

In this paper, we examines the impact of financial advisors’ reputation on acquirers’ returns in Merger and Acquisition (M&A) and provides an overview of the deal outcomes. Using a sample of 3,654 acquisitions from 2000 to 2015 in the U.K, the paper finds that advisor’s reputation matters in private acquisitions as tier-one (top-tier) advisors are able to increase bidder’s wealth by about 4%. We find evidence in support of the “diligent advisor” hypothesis. Besides, we find that boutique advisors are able to complete M&A deals faster than other advisors. Moreover, we find that stock’s Coverage and stock’s Beta are strong indicators of bidder’s wealth during U.K acquisitions. The sample of acquisitions is derived from Bloomberg M&A database. Accounting data and stock's price data are gathered from Thomson Reuters DataStream