We empirically investigate the different role the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors play on Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) performance. In general, our results confirm that acquiring companies have a benefit if they acquire a target with a higher ESG score, in line with recent evidence. But have the single ESG factors the same impact in the value appreciation by financial markets? To answer this question, we detangle the single effects of the ESG factors and we show that, on a stand-alone basis, a superior social commitment and a higher environmental score are not relevant for M&A value creation, whereas better corporate governance standards affect positively the takeover performance. The analysis of residuals and the Q-Q plot confirm the robustness of our empirical results which open new research routes for the investigation of the differential role that ESG factors may have in guiding corporate decisions towards M&A transactions capable of value creation.

中文翻译：

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梳理环境、社会和治理因素对并购绩效的作用

我们通过实证研究环境、社会和治理 (ESG) 因素对并购 (M&A) 绩效的不同作用。总体而言，我们的研究结果证实，如果收购公司收购 ESG 得分较高的目标公司，收购公司将受益，这与最近的证据一致。但是单一的 ESG 因素对金融市场的价值升值有同样的影响吗？为了回答这个问题，我们分解了 ESG 因素的单一影响，我们表明，在独立的基础上，卓越的社会承诺和更高的环境得分与并购价值创造无关，而更好的公司治理标准会产生积极影响收购业绩。