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Interest Rate Sensitivity as Motivation for Acquisitions: Evidence from Bank Holding Companies

We examine the role of interest rate sensitivity for bank acquisitions. We expect that the interest rate sensitivity of a bank impacts the likelihood that it is acquired as the fair value of fixed rate loans increases (decrease) when interest rates decrease (increase) while book values remain unchanged. We find that banks with greater fixed-rate loan portfolios are more likely to be acquired in decreasing rate environments as bank acquirers seek to acquire fixed-rate assets with higher rates than can be achieved through new loan originations. Further, this effect is stronger for targets that cannot fully benefit from their fixed-rate portfolio due to either poor operating performance or a weaker information environment. In further tests we find positive returns for acquirers at the time the fair values of the target are reported. This study sheds light on how bank acquisitions are impacted by interest rate sensitivity in low-rate environments.