deals can be regarded as demand complementary deals. We find a higher propensity of merger deals and larger merger returns … completed and take less time to complete. We also find higher demand complementarity deals have higher sales and market value …

I survey the empirical and theoretical literature on merger waves, beginning with the very early work on aggregate … no single explanation for merger activity or waves--and there is room for market misvaluation to play a role--the bulk of … the evidence points to the conclusion that merger waves are the response to shocks to industries’ operating environments …