Takeovers which share a combination of two factors have almost always been successful in New Zealand, a report from Bell Gully says.

The Takeovers Market Practice Report says that board backing and a price which meets or beats the independent adviser's valuation range are likely to succeed.

Of takeovers recommended by the target board since 2001, 95% were successful the report says, while 84% of offers featuring a price within or above the independent valuation range were successful.

Offers that achieved both of these features had a 97% success rate.

The report looks at the period from 1 July 2001 to 31 May 2017, which is the time since introduction of the Takeovers Code.

In that time there were 69 transactions, with an overall success rate of 76%. Of the takeovers, 74% were trade bidders and 26% financial bidders, and the consideration in 89% was cash only, with the rest a combination of cash and shares (7%) or shares only (4%).

The report says one noteworthy feature is that only 5% of takeovers in New Zealand were contested, compared with 17% in Australia in the last decade.

"The lack of contested takeovers in New Zealand may be a function of the significant role that lock-up agreements play in our takeovers environment," the report says.

Overseas bidders featured in 59% of takeovers during the period, with 37% coming from Australia, 22% from Asia, 17% from North America, 17% from Europe, and 7% from other locations.