Recently, a collaborative paper titled "Manager sentiment, deal characteristics, and takeover performance" by Associate Professor Kai Wu from our school (School of Finance, Central University of Finance and Economics), Professor Xiaofen Tan from Beihang University, Dr. Suwei An, a 2023 graduate of the CUFE-Tilburg program, and Yi Liu, a Ph.D. student at Stevens Institute of Technology, has been officially accepted and published online by the internationally renowned journal British Accounting Review in the field of economics.

This paper employs text analysis methods and financial accounting dictionaries to investigate the impact of manager sentiment on M&A activities, M&A performance, and deal characteristics. The study finds that manager sentiment has a significant positive predictive effect on corporate M&A activities, and high manager sentiment reduces the long-term performance of M&A transactions. Further analysis reveals that managers with high sentiment tend to engage in large-scale transactions, reduce all-stock payments, acquire hard-to-value target companies, and provide higher target valuations, indicating overinvestment and poor performance in high-sentiment deals.

This paper provides new evidence on the relationship between manager sentiment and M&A activities, long-term M&A performance, and deal characteristics. The research findings suggest that manager sentiment is an important behavioral factor influencing corporate M&A decisions. This discovery has significant implications for understanding the motivations and consequences of corporate M&As and provides investors with a new perspective for evaluating M&A transactions.