and operating needs without having to wait for it to become available. released. derived from
business success (Putri & Yasa, 2020).
In today's fast-paced era of globalization, companies must be able to develop plans,
strategies, and innovations quickly to survive the competition in the global market. Many ways
can be done to ensure a business survives in global competition, one of which is by developing
merger and acquisition activities. Currently, trading activities in the market are developing not
only in the form of buying and selling goods but also in buying and selling businesses (assets).
The asset sales market is often called the corporate control market (Nurhayati, 2009).
Large Indonesian companies have been doing mergers and acquisitions, especially during
the economic crisis that led to the bankruptcy of many companies. Moreover, when the
COVID-19 pandemic broke out in Indonesia, many bankrupt businesses were forced to sell
their assets. According to (Sidik, 2023), one example of expansion activities that occurred
during the pandemic was the merger of Tokopedia with Gojek, which was later named GoTo.
The total value of the business combination (VAT) at the end of 2020 was more than 22 billion
USD. In addition to the GoTo merger, there was also the acquisition of PT Indosat and Tri
Indonesia in 2022 with a combined business value of $6 billion.
The reason companies tend to choose mergers and acquisitions over in-house growth as
a strategy is that mergers and acquisitions are seen as a quick way to achieve corporate goals
that companies cannot afford to lose. Synergies—a situation in which the combined value of
the companies after the merger and acquisition exceeds the combined worth of each company
before the merger and acquisition—are another benefit of mergers and acquisitions.
Furthermore, organizations benefit from mergers and acquisitions in the form of enhanced
research and marketing capabilities, technology transfer, management skills, and efficiency in
the form of decreased production costs (Gustina, 2017).
Mergers and acquisitions are at the core of controversies between regulators,
shareholders, public decision-makers, and academics. Mergers and acquisitions in Indonesia
occurred in 1970, conducted by banks in the hope of strengthening their capital structure and
reducing taxes. (Helmalia, 2016). The growth of mergers and acquisitions continues to this day.
If in a crisis where many companies have difficulty in financing their capital. The tendency
that occurs in Indonesia, the acquisition pattern is more widely practiced. This is because
business owners feel more comfortable owning large amounts of shares privately.
Mergers and acquisitions are still often considered controversial decisions because they
are so powerful and complex. Many parties suffer, but also benefit from mergers and
acquisitions. Overall, we see a negative impact on employees, as these policies are often
accompanied by massive layoffs. For example, in the case of Bank Mandiri, more than 11,000
employees had to opt for early retirement, while the reduction in the case of the Bank Permata
merger was 2,350 employees (Moin & Salhi, 2007).
Further controversy can be seen in the emergence of various conspiracies and scandals
behind mergers and acquisitions. Various forms of engineering are achieved through mergers
and acquisitions. For example, these vehicles are used to avoid taxes, inflate the value of
company assets, change the management of the acquired company, or increase compensation
for the managers themselves. Furthermore, M&A decisions are not free from problems (Sută,
1992), the cost of implementing M&A is very expensive and the results are not necessarily as