Comparative study of complete tender offers and partial acquisitions

Complete tender offers, in which at least 90% of outstanding shares are bought by a small number of bidders, are found to result in larger gains for shareholders than do partial acquisitions. Gains of as high as 21.90% are acheived through complete tender offers as compared to a 12.80% gain for partial acquisitions. Shareholders view complete tender offers as more beneficial in comparison with partial offerings.