Breaking the Stereotype of Chinese Acquisitions in Italy : An Empirical Study on Italian Target Firm Performance and the Influential Factors Affecting it

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this research is to assess the impact of Chinese acquisitions on Italian target firm performance, and explore which characteristics of the acquirer can determine a change of it. First, a Paired-Samples T-test has been applied to appreciate the difference between pre-and post-acquisition performance on 27 sample companies. Secondly, through an OLS regression, the impact of the Chinese acquirers’ characteristics on the performance of Italian target companies has been estimated for the year 2018. In addition, two interviews with managers from one sample company were carried out to complement the quantitative findings with qualitative insight. The results show that the performance of Italian target companies did not change significantly after the acquisition-at least not in the time span of 3 years used for the analysis- in terms of: profitability, solvency and growth. However, job creation slightly increased following the takeover. Furthermore, our findings indicate that, among the Influential factors examined, Chinese acquirers’ prior M&Aexperience in developed countries and the level of relatedness have a significant and positive impact on the performance of Italian target sampled companies. Whereas, being acquired by a Chinese SOE or POE seems to not affect the performance. Lastly, another influential factor raised by our respondents resulted to be the integration strategy implemented by the Chinese acquirer.Indeed, choosing the appropriate integration strategy for the two entities can be crucial for the acquisition success, and ultimately, for the future performance of the target.