Customer concentration of targets in mergers and acquisitions

We study how the customer concentration of targets impacts the occurrence and structure of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). We hypothesize and find that acquirers respond to customer concentration-related risk by placing fewer bids for targets with greater customer concentration and by using more stock payment in their offers. These relations vary predictably with major customer-related uncertainty. Our findings extend the literature by documenting an important risk factor in M&A and by quantifying the economic consequences of customer concentration.