Managerial Talk of Trust and Takeover Performance

The current study investigates the usage of virtuous language in the management discussion and analysis (MD&A) section of SEC filings (10-K Form) and the prognostic power of such language for takeover performance. The sample under study, obtained from Bloomberg, is comprised of a large number of M&A deals from the United States that took place between January 2000 and October 2016. The empirical results, based on textual analysis, reveal that trust is negatively associated with long-term takeover performance, suggesting that managerial virtuous talk is, in practicality, an indication of lower post-acquisition gains for the acquirers in the long run. Furthermore, takeover returns are found to reflect textual information on trust with a delay, owing to general inattention and inability of investors to process soft cues inherent in textual content and to managers purposefully lulling investors to keep them from paying attention and identifying managerial misconduct. Quite interestingly, the significance of virtuous talk becomes more evident in the post-crisis period due to relatively higher uncertainty linked with evaluating such kind of deals on the basis of hard information alone. Finally, an inflated virtuous talk when coupled with pessimistic tone, the ability of managerial ‘good talk’ to create a trustworthy image and to distract investors reduces and the predictive power of managerial trust talk increases even more. Overall, it is concluded that managerial virtuous talk should not be regarded as a ‘cheap talk’. It is, in fact, very pertinent for predicting future takeover returns in the long run.