Motivations Behind And Tactics Used In China's Airports Strategic Horizontal M&A

Mergers&Acquisitions is an important way for corporations to achieve fast expansion. As a country's infrastructure industry, airports have gradually taken a leading role in the waves of corporate mergers&acquisitions since the 1990s.In 2002, the Civil Aviation Administration of China officially started the airports localization reform, which opened a new chapter for horizontal merging within the Chinese airport industry. Since then, various acquisitions and restructuring between airport corporations have been happened constantly. The Chinese airport industry has entered the fast changing stage of forming corporate groups and clusters. The strategic development toward scaling up, regionalization, and even cross-regionalization by every major airport corporate group has become clear.Using the developmental situation of merging within domestic and international airport industries as background, and Sichuan Province Airport Group Co. Limited, mergers as a case, this essay specifically studies motivations behind and strategies used by Chinese airport corporations'implementation of horizontal merging. The findings and lessons learned may provide guidance for future horizontal mergers within the Chinese airport industry, and help major airport corporations improve their implementation of merging strategies in order to achieve their strategic goals.The essay consists of four chapters:Chapter One:Introduction. This chapter includes study background and significance; research methods and content framework.Chapter Two:Theoretical framework. This chapter describes theories related to strategic business management and merging. Chapter Three:This chapter discusses motivations behind and tactics used in horizontal merging within the airport industry. It includes:1) a description of the current state of merging within both domestic and international airport industries; 2) an analysis of the developmental trajectories of China's airport industry, and motivations behind the horizontal merging; and 3) a thorough discussion on choosing targets for mergers, implementation of merging tactics, integration after merging, and risk control of merging.Chapter 4:Case study. Using Sichuan Province Airport Group Co. Limited acquisition and restructuring of Panzhihua and Luzhou airports as an example, this chapter:1) describes Sichuan Province Airport Group Co. Limited current state of development and future development strategies; 2) analyzes motivations behind and benefits gained from the mergers; 3) describes the processes of formulating and implementing the strategies for merging; and 4) discusses lessons and experiences learned from the case study and their implications.