Political connection and M&A performance: Evidence from China

This paper explores the role of political connections in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) by examining stock market performance short-run announcement period long-run post-merger Chinese M&A from 1998 to 2017. We further examine whether corporate governance mechanisms nature ownership may determine extent which impact on outcome. The results show that connection has a positive significant firm for both privately-owned enterprises (POEs) state-owned (SOEs). are more pronounced presence strong mechanisms: board independence gender diversity. also find effect is higher POEs comparison SOEs. Our robust across alternative measures connection.