Abstract
This study aims to examine the impact of carbon emissions of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) on their acquirer value. Findings show that the carbon reduction performance of the acquired state-owned enterprises significantly improved the value of the acquiring enterprises. However, for the types of state-owned enterprises, local state-owned enterprises are more suitable for the above results. Multiple sensitivity tests are done to confirm the reliability of the evidence. By obtaining China's domestic M&A data and other enterprise level financial information from China's securities market and accounting research (CSMAR) database, we collect sample includes state-owned enterprises from 2010 to 2022. We used China Carbon Market Annual Report and the report of Mark Data network database to provide carbon emission performance of state-owned enterprises. Consistent with the stakeholder theory of maximizing stakeholder value, investing in corporate social responsibility can create value in M&A transactions, especially for the local state-owned enterprises