Guest editorial: Value impacts of mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic alliances and divestitures

Strategic corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to joint ventures, alliances, leveraged buyouts (LBOs) and divestitures, are vital strategies for corporate growth, restructuring and innovation. These decisions can substantially influence firm value, reshape industry dynamics and alter stakeholder outcomes across financial, operational and social dimensions. As such, a well-developed academic literature studies the valuation impact and long-term performance consequences of such transactions.The literature on corporate restructuring has evolved substantially over the past four decades, starting with earlier studies such as Jensen and Ruback (1983), who documented wealth gains to target shareholders in takeovers, and Bradley et al. (1988), who established that mergers, on average, generate positive total returns. Further seminal work by Lang et al. (1991) and Mitchell and Stafford (2000) helped define the conditions under which acquiring firms create or destroy value. These studies emphasized managerial incentives, free cash flow agency problems, and market misvaluations as key drivers of deal performance.More recent research builds on these insights with more advanced empirical designs and broader institutional perspectives. For instance, Moeller et al. (2005) revealed that acquirers often overpay, particularly in large deals, leading to significant shareholder losses. In contrast, Erel et al. (2015) explored cross-border acquisitions and found that institutional quality and financial development significantly shape deal outcomes. Research has also expanded into ESG implications (e.g. Krüger, 2015; Gantchev et al., 2022), innovation spillovers (Papanikolaou and Schmidt, 2019), and the behavior of strategic vs. financial acquirers (Bargeron et al., 2014).Divestitures and spin-offs, once treated as secondary considerations, are now recognized as critical levers for value enhancement and strategic realignment. Studies such as John and Ofek (1995) and Desai and Jain (1999) showed that spin-offs improve focus and operational efficiency, while Michaely and Roberts (2012) found that they enhance transparency and firm visibility. More recently, Bates et al. (2014) and Dittmar and Dittmar (2021) revisited asset sales as mechanisms for firm refocusing in the face of investor activism and capital misallocation.This special issue brings together nine contributions that reflect both the breadth and evolving nature of research on the value impacts of strategic transactions. The papers span different geographic settings, transaction types and empirical approaches. We briefly summarize their key insights as follows.There remain several avenues for future research. Examples include a deeper analysis of post-deal organizational dynamics and the application of AI to predict and evaluate deal outcomes. We hope this collection advances scholarly conversation and provides new pathways for impactful research in corporate finance.