An FDI is an FDI is an FDI? The growth effects of greenfield investment and mergers and acquisitions in developing countries

We explore the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic growth in developing countries, distinguishing between mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and Greenfield investment. We find that these two types of FDI differ substantially with respect to their influence on growth. While Greenfield FDI substantially enhances growth, M&As have no effect, at best. We also demonstrate that, in contrast to Greenfield FDI, a larger volume of M&As results in an appreciated real exchange rate. The resulting loss in price competitiveness may explain the poor growth effect of the M&A variant of FDI.