Causes and consequences of merger waves [Dataset]

The Database on Mergers in Europe (DOME) has been compiled at the Kiel Institute of World Economics, in order to improve the availability of data on mergers in Europe. This public domain database is set up to improve the data source for empirical research on mergers in Europe. It is based on the merger cases, which have been under examination by the European Commission since 1990. Its current version consists of 1,515 cases notified until December 31st, 2000. The information in the database includes the date of the announcement of the merger, the name, the country and the sector of the acquiring company, the target and the selling company as well as the transaction value (if disclosed). A classification is given with respect to majority ownership, joint venture, and minority ownership. Furthermore, some additional information for majority ownerships is included: capital profitability and employment growth relative to the sectoral average before and after the merger. Some notes are also given like methods of payment (share, cash), the further development after the merger (later merged with other company, later sold to other company), and possible reasons for the transaction (privatization, bankruptcy, takeover of an earlier joint venture). The sample population of DOME corresponds to the cases examined by the European Commission. This limits the generality of results from studies using DOME as the sample is biased towards large companies due to the criteria of the European Commission. However, mergers of large companies are most controversially discussed with regards to their impact on the whole economy. Furthermore, cross-border cases are over-represented in DOME. Please cite the database as follows: Kiel Institute for World Economics (2004). DOME: Database on Mergers in Europe.