The liquidation/merger alternative some results for the UK corporate sector

Previous researchers have explicitly extended the definition of corporate failure to include distressed acquired firms when they are (mis) classified by statistical models as failing. We argue that this approach is erroneous, since the acquisition of a financially distressed firm is an entirely separate economic outcome from corporate failure. This paper reports some new evidence for the UK corporate sector where the acquisition of a distressed firm is modelled as a distinct alternative to corporate failure. Our empirical results suggest that it is feasible to develop statistical models which are able to discriminate, with a reasonably high degree of accuracy, between those distressed firms which fail and those where a timely merger appears to serve as a viable alternative to corporate bankruptcy.