The Art of M&A, Fifth Edition: A Merger, Acquisition, and Buyout Guide

Today there is only one indispensably essential book on M&A, and this is it. The Art of M&A belongs in every law library, investment bank, hedge fund—frankly, in every company contemplating an acquisition, sale, or merger. I’ve been in M&A for decades, done a couple hundred deals public and private worldwide, bear the cynicism of a grizzled small I-bank veteran CEO . . . and I am in awe of the comprehensiveness, scope, and breadth of contemporary knowledge assembled and delivered here. Alexandra Reed Lajoux—who’s got a Princeton PhD and an MBA, and was chief knowledge officer at NACD—is the daughter of the legendary Stanley Foster Reed, author of the first edition of The Art of M&A 31 years ago. She has crafted in this fifth edition (her fourth) a brilliant, massive, encyclopedic, and extraordinary reference-as-textbook-and-hornbook.This edition of The Art of M&A delves deep into cutting-edge applications of law and finance; nuances of debt and equity structures; SEC disclosures; letters of intent; hedging; securing financing and refinancing; due diligence methodologies; aggregations; grand strategies and negotiation tactics; M&A ethics (Lajoux really should write another whole book in her series on that one); the role of technological determinism in M&A; applying valuation discount rates; free cash flow considerations; opportunity prioritization; organizational structures in deals; liquidations and buying assets out of bankruptcy; supermajorities; Board roles and responsibilities in fiduciary duties; merging corporate partners; indemnities and escrows; the special issues attendant upon public companies in our Dodd-Frank world; post-merger integration and shedding unproductive divisions by divestiture; and the overarching influence of M&A globalization in 2019-2020.Lajoux now occupies pinnacle of domain in M&A just like Brealey, Myers and Allen in corporate finance or Kotter in marketing. Her book is *really* that good, and—repeating—essential. Strong Buy.

Excellent M&A book, possibly one of the best! Excellent print quality

This is a great book for students and professionals. It is easy-to-read, well-researched, and current.For students, this book is a good overview. When I was a MBA student, I learned M&A from an earlier edition. It's a practical book, based on fact and legislation rather than academic theory.M&A is a very large subject area. This book covers the many areas including valuation, due diligence, financing, and integration. It also covers companies in bankruptcy and legal considerations.For professionals, this book goes into depth. I am amazed by the number of footnotes and the accuracy of information. The details in this book will help prevent costly mistakes.It's possible to buy a separate, specialized book, which makes sense if you are professional focused in one area. But most people need an overview of the acquisition or selling process. You don't need other M&A books.The passion for the M&A subject is evident. There is a large number of contributors to the book who I assume have reviewed the content and brought in real world experience.I have seen other reviews which say this book is invaluable. I would say it's very valuable because it's comprehensive and yet detailed when needed.

"The Art of M&A, Fifth Edition: A Merger, Acquisition, and Buyout Guide" by Alexandra Reed Lajoux with LLC Capital Expert Services is very comprehensive and a good reference book to have on hand for this topic. It is surprisingly readable and accessible. I also really like the layout and print/paper quality. That makes a difference in physical ease of reading. I'm glad that I decided to check this out.

Excellent!!!!

This is the one resource I turn to for M&A whether serving on a board, working with a board, coaching executives or advising on the nuts, bolts, and finer points of making a deal happen.

I wanted this book as a supplement to some reading done in our MBA course. As an outsider transitioning into the world of corporate finance, this book is a tremendous read and certainly a great perspective on breaking into the world of mergers and acquisitions. The Art of M&A, Fifth Edition: A Merger, Acquisition, and Buyout Guide Is The definitive guide to mergers and acquisition’s in the 21st-century business world. While it helps for the NBA coursework, it is certainly easy to understand and perfect for anybody in the business world. It provides a great, holistic review of all the applicable principles one might need to consider. From the underlying legal principles and the bureaucratic red tape associated with such complex business transactions, this book certainly dives in to the requisite legal precedents one needs to consider. Additionally it references several vignettes and historical examples. When transitioning to the world of finances this book provides the key insights for tax law and tax basis when considering mergers, and significant tips when I comes to modeling and setting valuations for acquisitions. It takes several volumes of tax law and complex business calculus and will sit down to the essential information contained within a few easy today I just chapters. I’ll certainly be accounts will scrub the numbers much harder during their due diligence, for those executing the negotiations, this book price everything one would need. As I continue the transition towards executive level leader ship in the corporate world I will certainly continue to read engaged this volume, And continue to engage in election day and financially improving every day. This book is a must read and remain on my office bookshelf for years to come.