We study the effect of cultural and institutional distances on the probability that a firm from an acquiring country announces an acquisition of a firm in a target country (initiation), the probability that an announced deal is completed (completion), and the average time it takes to complete an acquisition (duration). We find that culture plays a decisive role in deal initiation. Completion and duration of a deal is largely unaffected by the cross country cultural and institutional differences and depends on deal level characteristics. We find a higher probability for acquirers to hire Top-tier advisors when they initiate deals in countries with higher cultural differences. We also find that use of Top-tier advisors by acquirers increases the probability of completion of the deal.

We resolve the asymmetric price response puzzle for additions to and deletions from the S&P 500 documented in Chen, Noronha, and Singal (2004) by using a more appropriate methodology to measure abnormal returns and correctly adjusting for outliers. In contrast to their findings, our results show a permanent price response for both additions and deletions. We further distinguish between firms transferred into other S&P indices and true additions/deletions (firms not added from or placed into other S&P indices). We find a permanent price increase for true additions and a permanent decline in price for true deletions from the S&P 500.