Assessment of Russian Merger Control Using the Event Study

The study is devoted to assessment of the quality of Russian merger regulation using the event study. We examined a sample of 639 mergers reviewed by the Russian antimonopoly service for the period from 2007 to 2019. The results reveal a significant negative reaction of the stock market both from the merging companies and their competitors to the initial appearance of information about the transaction. The reaction to the FAS permit is also negative for the shareholders of the merging companies and their competitors. An analysis of the relationship between these reactions showed that investors respond positively to the issuance of permits. Research conducted for telecommunications companies suggests high quality merger regulation, but research conducted for utilities suggests that mergers are poorly regulated. This result assumes additional suspicions of the existence of insider trading, as well as of the FAS committing Type II errors.