Chapter 8

Negotiation

Introduction

Good negotiating skills are an acquisition essential. At every step along the way, buyers and sellers find themselves negotiating over something. In the early days it will be over the indicative price, then it will be the heads of terms, next it will be the access for advisers carrying out due diligence and so on, until the sale and purchase agreement is finally signed.

The high stakes and high pressure of M&A (merger and acquisition) negotiations make careless mistakes easy and therefore the more you know, and the more you practise, the better you will be when it really counts.

The basics

As is implied by the title of one of the most famous books on the topic,1 negotiation is about reaching agreement. ...

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