M&A: A Practical Guide to Doing the Deal, 2nd Edition

Preface

When most people hear the term “mergers and acquisitions,” the impression that comes to mind is a merciless corporate raider, who acquires a weakened corporate behemoth, strips the business of its assets, and fires thousands of innocent workers in the relentless pursuit of profit. This caricature is the gist for Hollywood films, but it holds true for only a minute fraction of transactions. The vast majority of M&A deals are friendly combinations between companies in the same, or a very similar, business.

The arranging, financing, and documenting of these combinations is a large industry in and of itself—employing a sizeable number of people in many vocations. The industry’s attributes—and the process through which deals are conceived and closed—thus merit the close attention of a broad cross-section of individuals, such as:

• Investment bankers involved with mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
• Equity analysts at hedge funds, risk arbitrage, pension funds, commercial banks, endowments, insurance companies, mutual funds, and sovereign wealth funds, who invest in firms engaged in M&A.
• Private equity professionals at buyout funds, venture capital funds, and hedge funds, who routinely buy and sell companies.
• Corporate financial executives and business development professionals.
• Institutional loan officers working with M&A and buyout transactions.
• Business students at colleges and graduate business schools.
• Investor relations professionals at corporations and public relations ...