After taking this course students should be able to: Explain common motivations behind M&A activity; Identify the main players and describe their incentives; Describe the value creation options available to companies; Describe restructuring options and explain common reasons for restructuring;  Distinguish among equity carve-outs, spin-offs, split-offs, and liquidation; Distinguish among pre-offer and post-offer takeover defence mechanisms; Distinguish different types of M&A processes; Describe the M&A transaction process and timeline; Describe the most important documents in an M&A transaction and their major components; Describe the major legal and regulatory concerns in an M&A process; Compare the discounted cash flow, comparable company, and comparable transaction analyses for valuing a target company, including the advantages and disadvantages of each; Explain bootstrapping of earnings per share (EPS) and calculate a company’s post-merger EPS; Explain and calculate premiums; Explain and calculate synergies; Distinguish value creation and value capture; Explain how price and payment method affects the distribution of risks and benefits in M&A transactions; Explain the role of financing and impact of LBOs on valuation; Describe the most common M&A challenges.

Prerequisites: Yes (see syllabus)