“…In this respect, Claessens et al (2001), Meyer et al (2009), Chari et al (2010), Fan et al (2013), andLebedev et al (2015) bring direct evidence regarding the importance of the quality of institutions with respect to acquisitions in emerging markets. Furthermore, Blazy and Stef (2020) documented the importance of quality bankruptcy procedures, which are also covered in our dataset, for easing and organizing the capital transfers of distressed firms in several European emerging markets. There is also solid evidence showing that progress in reforms and the cultivation of the institutional environment is linked to economic processes in European emerging economies, namely with respect to firm performance, efficiency, survival, or recovery from financial distress (Roland, 2000;Meyer et al, 2009;Hanousek et al, 2015;Szarzec et al, 2019;Baumöhl et al, 2019;Iwasaki and Kočenda, 2020;Kočenda and Iwasaki, 2020;Stef, 2021).…”