Factors influenceing the share of ownership sought in cross- border acquisitions - UK perspectives

The aim of the paper is to investigate the factors influencing share of ownership sought in cross border acquisitions (CBAs). Drawing on multiple theoretical explanations, we develop and test hypotheses on factors influencing the share of equity sought by foreign firms in CBAs. Findings based on a sample of 1872 CBAs by UK firms show that the share of equity sought is influenced by a number of factors, including the difficulty in integrating local firm managers in culturally distant countries and size of the local firm. We contribute in existing literature by approaching the aspects of equity share in CBAs from a novel perspective of real options theory and transaction cost economics (TCE).