Description:The fundamental economics of the European insurance industry and specifically the impact of the recent economic crisis on the financial services sector are likely to cause a wave of M&A transactions in the insurance sector. An event study of the previous M&A cycle in the European insurance industry shows that M&A transactions on average achieve short-term value creation. However, there is a significant dispersion among individual transactions and, in the long term, the average M&A transaction destroys value. Andreas Schertzinger identifies determinants of successful transactions, such as transaction timing and diversifying transaction strategy, through a multivariate statistical analysis. Two case studies illustrate success factors specifically related to the conduct of transactions in greater detail.