There has been a variety of research within the field of identifying targets of mergers and acquisitions in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe, but much less research has been conducted in Thailand. The purpose of this study is to examine the companies in the service industry in Thai to see whether the probability of the target of takeover is affected by some firm characteristic variables. The independent variables, such as profitability, firm valuation, firm size, growth, liquidity, leverage, free cash flow, and real property are used in this study to estimate the probability of a firm become targets of mergers and acquisitions. The data of this study were obtained from financial statements of listed firms in the Stock Exchange of Thailand from 2000 to 2018. The final sample composes 77 companies, consisting of 5 targets and 72 non-targets. Using the binary logistic regression models, the results show that firm valuation variables which are market-to-book ratio and price-to-earnings ratio have a statistically significant positive effect on the probability of takeover.

There has been a variety of research within the field of identifying targets of mergers and acquisitions in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe, but much less research has been conducted in Thailand. The purpose of this study is to examine the companies in the service industry in Thai to see whether the probability of the target of takeover is affected by some firm characteristic variables. The independent variables, such as profitability, firm valuation, firm size, growth, liquidity, leverage, free cash flow, and real property are used in this study to estimate the probability of a firm become targets of mergers and acquisitions. The data of this study were obtained from financial statements of listed firms in the Stock Exchange of Thailand from 2000 to 2018. The final sample composes 77 companies, consisting of 5 targets and 72 non-targets. Using the binary logistic regression models, the results show that firm valuation variables which are market-to-book ratio and price-to-earnings ratio have a statistically significant positive effect on the probability of takeover.

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