The primary goal of this study was to determine the impact of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) sustainability scores of companies. In this regard, efforts to measure and analyze the evolution of a company’s performance, taking into account financial and non-financial measures using a score function, are adapted to the pharmaceutical sector. The sample consisted of 100 leading pharmaceutical companies, ranked by stock market capitalization, who registered 30% (n = 492) of the total M&A transactions over the study period (2010–2020). There was a direct and positive link between the M&A process and the evolution of company performance. The ESG score, as an indicator for measuring sustainability, has a positive and direct impact on company performance, indicating that a high ESG score determines an increase in company performance. A similar impact is identified for companies involved in M&A processes, meaning that companies in the pharmaceutical sector tend to register a performance improvement.
The Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions and Sustainability on Company Performance in the Pharmaceutical Sector
