Abstract
Since the global financial crisis in 2008, foreign direct investment (FDI) trend has been generally declining with the exception of 2011. Surprisingly, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) trend did not show this consistent downward trend; rather it has shown greater variability even its terms of direction. This study aims at providing some answers to these questions using data of M&A transactions from 2008 until 2014. The paper is divided into four sections. In addition to an introduction, section two gives a very brief exposition of the relevant literature. Section three analyzes the data and draws important observations and results. Finally section four concludes and gives some insights.
Keywords:
Disclosure statement
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.
Notes
1 An important strand of the literature pioneered by Neary (2004) combines in a general equilibrium setup trade theory, industrial organization and strategic behaviour of firms between firms to explain the behaviour of M&A.
2 The database included figures for 2015 and 2014; however, it is decided not to use these last two years since data usually comes with a lag for obvious reasons; hence there is a high probability that figures for 2014 are incomplete whereas figures for 2015 are not representative.
3 These sectors are: Leisure and tourism, transport, telecommunication, construction, real estate, financial services, food and beverage, health care, industrial manufacturing, oil and gas, agriculture, media, retail and finally consumer good.
4 Actually, the common perception toward having Egyptian TNCs investing outside Egypt is that at least it is not a patriotic action.