Abstract

In the fifth edition of this well-known text, Dr. DePamphilis explains the real world of mergers, acquisitions, and restructuring based on his academic knowledge and personal experiences with over 30 such deals himself. Important enhancements unique to the fifth edition: all 99 cases involve real-life deals made or announced within the last five years, extensive discussions of all current valuation techniques and their strengths and weaknesses, cross-border transactions analyzed and explained in detail, tax and legal issues covered comprehensively.

• Focuses on the REAL WORLD, not just theory. The 99 case studies span every industry and dozens of countries and show how deals are done rather than just the theory behind them. All cases fully updated for this edition. Cases all involve transactions that have occurred or been announced within the past 3-5 years.
• Extensive updating and enhanced content provided on reorganization, bankruptcy, and liquidation issues both inside and outside of bankruptcy court

"This is a truly comprehensive text and does a wonderful job at supplying the underlying motives and theory as well as the critical "in practice" elements that many books lack. It spans all types of M&A and restructuring transactions and covers all the relevant knowledge from the academic research to the practical legal, accounting, and regulatory details. The book is up-to-date and teaches the state of the art techniques used today. The book contains numerous cases and spreadsheet support that enables the reader to put into practice everything that is covered. The combination of great writing and active case learning make this book the best I have seen in the M&A and restructuring arena."

--Matthew T. Billett, Associate Professor of Finance, Henry B Tippie Research Fellow, University of Iowa

"I am happy to recommend the 5^th edition of Mergers, Acquisitions, and Other Restructuring Activities. Having used prior editions of Don DePamphilis’ text, I can affirm that the newest edition builds on a firm foundation of coverage, real-world examples, and readability. My students have consistently responded favorably to prior editions of the book. In the newest edition, I was delighted to discover that Don is expanding his coverage of family-owned businesses, already a strength in his earlier editions that were distinguished by their coverage of the valuation of privately-held businesses. Additional attention is paid to restructuring, bankruptcy, and liquidation as well as risk management, which are clearly topics of interest to every business person in today’s economic climate."

--Kent Hickman, Professor of Finance, Gonzaga University, WA

"This new edition is one of the most comprehensive books on mergers and acquisitions. The text combines theories, valuation models, and real-life cases to give business students an overall insight into the M&A deal process. The up-to-date real-life examples and cases provide opportunities for readers to explore and to apply theories to a wide variety of scenarios such as cross-border transactions, highly-levered deals, firms in financial distress, and family-own businesses. The chapter on restructuring under bankruptcy and liquidation both inside and outside the protection of bankruptcy court is timely and most useful in light of today’s economic crisis. Overall, this is an excellent book on mergers, acquisitions, and corporate restructuring activities."

--Tao-Hsien Dolly King, Rush S. Dickson Professor of Finance, Associate Professor, Department of Finance, The Belk College of Business, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

"Mergers, Acquisitions, and Other Restructuring Activities is an interesting and comprehensive look at the most important aspects of M&A and corporate restructuring --- from strategic and regulatory considerations and M&A deal process, through several chapters on M&A valuation and deal structuring, to other types of restructuring activities. It not only provides a road map for the M&A and other corporate restructuring transactions, but also highlights the key things to watch for. The book is clearly written with extensive but easy-to-follow case examples and empirical findings and cases to illustrate the points in the text. It is a book by an expert, and for M&A instructors and students as well as practitioners."

--Qiao Lui, Faculty of Business and Economics, The University of Hong Kong

"I am delighted with Don DePamphilis's new edition of the Merger, Acquisitions, and Other Restructuring Activities Fifth Edition text. It is a clear, comprehensive and thorough discussion of the issues involving all restructuring activities. The use of mini-cases throughout each chapter both highlights and clarifies key elements of aspects of decision making process. The end-of-chapter discussion questions are ideally complimented with the problem set questions to challenge the reader understanding of the covered concepts. I am impressed with the current reflection of market conditions throughout the text and the extent of the recent changes to provide greater understanding for students. I expect to find that the students are also impressed with the clarity and structure of the text when I introduce the newest edition to my course. I recommend the fifth edition to any professor covering mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcies, or other restructuring topics which may be used for specific chapters to cover limited topics, or as a text for a complete course on restructurings."

--John F. Manley, Ph.D, Professor of Finance, Hagan School of Business, Iona College, NY

"Mergers and Acquisitions continue to be amongst the preferred competitive options available to the companies seeking to grow and prosper in the rapidly changing global business scenario.

In this new updated and revised Fifth Edition of his path breaking book - the author and M&A expert Dr. DePamphilis illustrates how mergers, acquisitions, and other major forms of restructuring can help a company grow and prosper in the highly complex and competitive corporate takeover market place.

Interspersed with most relevant and up-to-date M&A case studies covering a broad range of industries, this book deals with the multifarious aspects of corporate restructuring in an integrated manner adopting a lucid style. While academic research studies on the subject have been incorporated in a coherent manner at appropriate places in the book, every effort has been made by the author to deal with the intricacies of the subject by offering comprehensive coverage of the latest methods and techniques adopted in managing M&A transactions in general and in dealing with business valuations of both public and private companies in particular.

The book provides practical ways of dealing with M&As even in an economic downturn with an exclusive chapter on corporate restructuring under bankruptcy and liquidation. With the greatly enlarged and up-to-date material on varied aspects of the subject, the book provides a plethora of real world examples which will go a long way in making the subject easy, stimulating, and interesting to both the academicians and practioners alike."

--Donepudi Prasad, ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad, India

"Professor DePamphilis has made significant, important and very timely updates in this 5^th edition of his text. He incorporates contemporary events such as the credit crunch and the latest accounting rules in the West plus M&A issues in emerging markets which includes family businesses. He also readdresses corporate governance, a topic that will become increasingly important in Business Schools the world over in M&A. This text has become, and will increasingly become, the definitive comprehensive and thorough text reference on the subject."

-- Jeffrey V Ramsbottom PhD, Visiting Professor China Europe International Business School, Shanghai

"I think the fifth edition of Mergers, Acquisitions, and Other Restructuring Activities does a comprehensive job of covering the M&A field. As in the previous edition, the structure is divided into five parts. These are logical and easy to follow, with a nice blend of theory, empirical research findings, and practical issues. I especially like two chapters – the chapter on bankruptcy and liquidation is extremely relevant in today’s economic conditions, and the chapter on private equity and hedge funds is interesting because M&A activities by these players are not well-documented in the literature. Overall, I believe that MBA students would find the book useful both as a textbook in class and as a reference book for later use."

--Raghavendra Rau, Purdue University, IN, and Barclays Global Investors

"This book is truly outstanding among the textbooks on takeovers, valuation and corporate restructuring for several reasons: the DePamphilis book not only gives a very up-to-date overview of the recent research findings on takeovers around the world, but also offers nearly 100 recent business cases. The book treats all the valuation techniques in depth and also offers much institutional detail on M&A and LBO transactions. Not just takeover successes are analyzed, but also how financially distressed companies should be restructured. In short, the ideal textbook for any M&A graduate course."

-- Luc Renneboog, Professor of Corporate Finance, Tilburg University, The Netherlands

"The 5^th Edition of the text-book Mergers, Acquisitions, and Other Restructuring Activities by Professor Donald DePamphilis is an excellent book. Among its many strengths, I could easily identify three features that stand out. First, it is up-to-date, covering the recent knowledge published in most of the academic journals. Second, it offers a comprehensive coverage of the subject matter, including chapters on the U.S. institutional, legal, and accounting environment; on technical aspects; valuation techniques; and strategic issues. Third, it is practical by including Excel Spread Sheet Models, and a large number of real cases. These three aspects along with the large number of end-of-chapter discussion and review questions, problems, and exercises make this book one of the best choices for the particular subject."

--Nickolaos G. Travlos, The Kitty Kyriacopoulos Chair in Finance, and Dean,

ALBA Graduate Business School, Greece

"It is difficult to imagine that his 4th edition could be improved upon, but Dr. DePamphilis has done just that.  His latest edition is clearer, better organized, and contains a wealth of vitally important new material for these challenging times.  I especially recommend the new chapter on liquidation for members of boards of directors who face extreme circumstances.  This is a remarkably useful book for readers at any level--students, instructors, company executives, as well as board members.  Bravo Don!" 

--Wesley B. Truitt, Adjunct Professor, School of Public Policy, Pepperdine University, CA

"The book is an excellent source for both academicians and practitioners. In addition to detailed cases, it provides tools contributing to value creation in M&A. A must book for an M&A course"

--Vahap Uysal, Assistant Professor of Finance, Price College of Business, University of Oklahoma

"An impressive detailed overview of all aspects of Mergers and Acquisitions. Numerous recent case studies and examples convince the reader that all the material is very relevant in today’s business environment." 

--Theo Vermaelen, Professor of Finance, Insead