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Merger & Acquisitions has been one of the more central themes of the financial sphere since the beginning of the 19th century. It is an activity that is necessary for firms since it can give them competitive advantage in their markets. An acquisition can give the acquiring firms the possibility to enforce cost and revenues efficiencies, as well as the prospect of entering new markets in order to differentiate themselves. Due to the increased activity of acquisitions and its impact on global economy, there has been a development of several strategies and procedures of what shall be taken into account before and during the acquistion itself. One of the latest factors that has been on an uprising in this discussion is the importance of sustainable factors for the acquirer. 

Sustainable finance has become a topic of high relevance in the past few years due to the effects of climate change, but also in regard to questions that concern the firms social and managerial contributions. New policies, regulations and standards have submerged and has therefore created a new environment for the firms to adapt after. A commonly discussed framework in the area of sustainability is ESG. ESG har the purpose of assessing and measuring a firm's contributions to sustainability from an environmental, social, and governance perspective. This framework has been lifted in many studies as one of the more influential factors among investors and managers when discussing the profitability of a firm, as well as its strategic prospects in the sector. Lately, it has also been a subject discussed among M&A researchers as well as professionals, with many arguing that ESG will be even. more important part of the merger process due to its influence on the value of the firm and its financial performance. 

The aim of this study is to see what kind of correlation there is between the financial performance of an acquiring firm and its ESG scores. This will be analyzed among firms that are listed on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ stock exchange that have performed at least one acquisition between 2017 and 2023. This can give the managers a glimpse of a possible pattern that might be present between acquisitions and ESG scores, since the main aim of an acquisition is to improve the firm’s financial performance. The results that can be drawn from this study is that there is a positive and statistically significant correlation between financial performance and ESG scores among these firms. This may create a new, more modern agent problem where the management is opening up more for external stakeholders over their shareholders, which can be viewed as a consequence of stronger corporate social responsibility taken by the firms.