Green merger and acquisition and export expansion: Evidence from China's polluting enterprises

Under the influence of international green trade barriers, export scale of China's heavily polluting enterprises is reduced. How to improve the export vitality and corporate image of polluting enterprises? Different from the existing studies, this paper focuses on green merger and acquisition (green M&A) of polluting enterprises which can quickly obtain clean enterprise resources, and compares the impact of different green M&A modes on export performance and export margin by refining the frequency, scale and geographical characteristics of green M&A. First, based on propensity score matching - double difference (PSM-DID) method, this paper finds that green M&A can increase export performance. The frequency and scale of green M&A are positively correlated with export performance. Geographic distance of green M&A enterprises is negatively correlated with export performance. Second, green M&A can increase export performance by promoting green innovation, government subsidies and bank financing capacity, and reduce export performance by increasing environmental governance costs. Third, by comparing different green M&A, this paper finds that horizontal green M&A can increase more exports than vertical green M&A. Forth, further compare the impact of green M&A on export binary margin, it is found that green M&A can promote export-expansion margin and has a U-shaped relationship on export-intensive margin. The conclusion is of great significance to improve export performance of polluting enterprises, and provides an empirical basis for adjusting green M&A strategy.