Mergers, Acquisitions, and Joint Ventures
Most senior executives will be involved in at least one major strategic transaction during their careers, and perhaps many. Even if they never complete a transaction, they can expect at a minimum to receive an overture from another company, bid on a business offered for sale by a persuasive investment banker, or debate with business colleagues the merits of a deal.
Mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, and the like have long been features of the corporate landscape. They became notorious in the late 1800s in the United States with the activity of the ”robber barons” and the consolidating activities of J.P. Morgan and others in the early 1900s. Since then, there have been several waves of activity in the United States—first in the booming economy of the late 1960s, then in the controversial restructuring wave of the 1980s, and most recently with the mega-deals at the close of the 1990s. Europe is also experiencing drastically increased merger and acquisition activity driven by the introduction of the Euro, overcapacity in many industries, and steps (albeit halting) to make its capital markets shareholder-friendly. European acquirers have also been active in international transactions. Asian markets have seen less mergers and acquisitions for a variety of reasons; Japan, however, is likely to witness increasing activity as it begins to recover from a decade-long economic slump.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have become an increasingly important means of reallocating resources in the global economy and for executing corporate strategies. For some firms, such as private equity shops and publicly traded industry consolidators like Starwood, pursuing acquisitions and divestitures is the corporate strategy. A large—and seemingly insatiable—infrastructure has grown up to facilitate such transactions, including investment bankers, lawyers, consultants, public relations firms, accountants, deal magazines, private investors and private investigators. Considering that most investment banks did not even have M&A departments in the late 1970s, the transformation is remarkable.
In this series of articles we focus mainly on the buy side—mergers and acquisitions—because an understanding of how to buy a company provides a foundation for the related activities of divesting and arranging joint ventures. We attempt to provide a general perspective and share our thoughts about some of the lessons we have learned.
Most senior executives will be involved in at least one major strategic transaction during their careers, and perhaps many. Even if they never complete a transaction, they can expect at a minimum to receive an overture from another company, bid on a business offered for sale by a persuasive investment banker, or debate with business colleagues the merits of a deal.
Mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, and the like have long been features of the corporate landscape. They became notorious in the late 1800s in the United States with the activity of the ”robber barons” and the consolidating activities of J.P. Morgan and others in the early 1900s. Since then, there have been several waves of activity in the United States—first in the booming economy of the late 1960s, then in the controversial restructuring wave of the 1980s, and most recently with the mega-deals at the close of the 1990s. Europe is also experiencing drastically increased merger and acquisition activity driven by the introduction of the Euro, overcapacity in many industries, and steps (albeit halting) to make its capital markets shareholder-friendly. European acquirers have also been active in international transactions. Asian markets have seen less mergers and acquisitions for a variety of reasons; Japan, however, is likely to witness increasing activity as it begins to recover from a decade-long economic slump.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have become an increasingly important means of reallocating resources in the global economy and for executing corporate strategies. For some firms, such as private equity shops and publicly traded industry consolidators like Starwood, pursuing acquisitions and divestitures is the corporate strategy. A large—and seemingly insatiable—infrastructure has grown up to facilitate such transactions, including investment bankers, lawyers, consultants, public relations firms, accountants, deal magazines, private investors and private investigators. Considering that most investment banks did not even have M&A departments in the late 1970s, the transformation is remarkable.
In this series of articles we focus mainly on the buy side—mergers and acquisitions—because an understanding of how to buy a company provides a foundation for the related activities of divesting and arranging joint ventures. We attempt to provide a general perspective and share our thoughts about some of the lessons we have learned.