Abstract

Value Generation through M&A Transactions in the European Banking Industry? - The BNP and Paribas Example - (Part I)

Do M&A transactions in the European banking industry generate shareholder value? Against the background of the described contradiction apparently existing - on the one hand - between strong M&A activities, on the increase again in the banking industry of late, and the lack of value generation through M&A transactions as documented on the basis of research (especially for the respective buying banks) on the other, the academic literature has increasingly drawn attention to the need for proceeding in a more differentiated individualised manner by using case studies extending beyond previous research approaches and taking account of the special characteristics of anyone transaction. This article, using the case study approach, therefore focuses on the analysis of value generation and, respectively, value destruction as a result of the amalgamation of BNP and Parisbasm which represents one of the most important national consolidation steps in the European banking industry in recent years. The aim has been to complement in contentual terms the empirical evidence for European M&A transactions in the banking industry, extremely limited in scope so far, and to help eliminate thereby the aforementioned apparent contradiction. A parallel objective has been to analyse in methodical terms whether the case study approach is appropriate for evaluating the success of M&A transactions in the banking industry.

Against this background, the first part of this article demonstrates on the basis of a critical comparison of the case study approach with different previously applied approaches to measuring the success of M&A transactions in the banking industry that case studies are appropriate, as a matter of principle, for analysing this research issue and justify the existence of a need to complement on a case study basis the results thus far obtained for the success of M&A transactions in the banking industry. This is followed by an overview of the main topic of this article, i. e. the M&A transaction between BNP and Paribas. To this end, the two partners to the transaction have been described and an overview of the relevant aspects of the transaction been given. Here, the focus is on details regarding the competitive bidding process. Next are an overview of the background conditions of the transaction (including the transaction motives and BNP's M&A strategy) as well as a presentation of the energetically pushed integration process. These explanations form the bases of the analysis of value generation and of the success factors of the transaction to be deduced that will be the subject of part II of this article.