Women on corporate boards help companies strike better deals

A 2013 study from the University of British Columbia reveals that female directors appear to bring down the costs of acquiring other companies, according to new research from the University of British Columbia, and they also tend to make fewer overall acquisition bids than companies that don’t have women on their boards. That means women directors are avoiding costly mistakes that end up hurting shareholders, the researchers say. In an analysis of all of the mergers and acquisitions activities of S&P 1500 companies between 1997 and 2009, each female director present on a company’s board meant it spent 15.4 percent less on acquisition bid premiums — that’s however much a company pays for an acquisition target over and above the value of all that target’s stock shares. Read the full story here.