Abstract

Abstract: This paper examines a new issue in the tramp shipping industry – mergers and acquisitions – which has drawn firms into a competition on size, market share and total tonnage. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the behaviour of tramp shipping firms ’ stock returns, when they announce mergers and acquisitions, and how this is portrayed on their stock values. The methodology used is event study analysis and bootstrap. Our sample is constituted by member firms of NASDAQ and NYSE. The empirical results indicate the positive impact that announcements of mergers and acquisitions cause in tramp firms ’ stock returns. The impact of mergers and acquisitions is highly important and plays a key role for firms to follow new challenges in the shipping industry and create higher financial value.