Applied Mergers and Acquisitions, with CD-ROM (Wiley Finance) [Hardcover]

Robert F. Bruner (Author), Joseph R. Perella (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0471395064 | ISBN-13: 978-0471395065

A comprehensive guide to the world of mergers and acquisitions
Why do so many M&A transactions fail? And what drives the success of those deals that are consummated? Robert Bruner explains that M&A can be understood as a response by managers to forces of turbulence in their environment. Despite the material failure rates of mergers and acquisitions, those pulling the trigger on key strategic decisions can make them work if they spend great care and rigor in the development of their M&A deals. By addressing the key factors of M&A success and failure, Applied Mergers and Acquisitions can help readers do this. Written by one of the foremost thinkers and educators in the field, this invaluable resource teaches readers the art and science of M&A valuation, deal negotiation, and bargaining, and provides a framework for considering tradeoffs in an effort to optimize the value of any M&A deal. Applied Mergers and Acquisitions is part of a complete suite of resources on M&A that includes a workbook and a CD-ROM with additional spreadsheets.
Robert F. Bruner, MBA, DBA (Charlottesville, VA), is the Distinguished Professor of Business Administration at the Darden School at the University of Virginia and Executive Director of the Batten Institute. He directs the Darden School's executive education course on mergers and acquisitions, and teaches the popular MBA elective on that topic. He holds a BA from Yale University, and a MBA and DBA from Harvard University.0471395064 A comprehensive guide to the world of mergers and acquisitions 0471395064 A comprehensive guide to the world of mergers and acquisitions
Why do so many M&A transactions fail? And what drives the success of those deals that are consummated? Robert Bruner explains that M&A can be understood as a response by managers to forces of turbulence in their environment. Despite the material failure rates of mergers and acquisitions, those pulling the trigger on key strategic decisions can make them work if they spend great care and rigor in the development of their M&A deals. By addressing the key factors of M&A success and failure, Applied Mergers and Acquisitions can help readers do this. Written by one of the foremost thinkers and educators in the field, this invaluable resource teaches readers the art and science of M&A valuation, deal negotiation, and bargaining, and provides a framework for considering tradeoffs in an effort to optimize the value of any M&A deal. Applied Mergers and Acquisitions is part of a complete suite of resources on M&A that includes a workbook and a CD-ROM with additional spreadsheets.
Robert F. Bruner, MBA, DBA (Charlottesville, VA), is the Distinguished Professor of Business Administration at the Darden School at the University of Virginia and Executive Director of the Batten Institute. He directs the Darden School's executive education course on mergers and acquisitions, and teaches the popular MBA elective on that topic. He holds a BA from Yale University, and a MBA and DBA from Harvard University.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Mergers and acquisitions is no easy path to riches or career advancement. All you have to do is open a newspaper or turn on your television to watch some of the most well-thought-out deals fall apart at the seams. But despite the material failure rates of mergers and acquisitions, those pulling the trigger on key strategic decisions can make them work if they exercise great care and rigor in the development of their M&A deals. It is possible to succeed in the world of mergers and acquisitions, and this book, with its companion CD-ROM, can put you on the right track to do so.

Applied Mergers and Acquisitions with CD-ROM combines the dynamic flexibility of CD-ROM technology with the depth and breadth of a traditional core text. By addressing the key factors of M&A success and failure, this package shows you the best ways to analyze, design, and implement M&A deals. Created by one of the foremost thinkers and educators in the field, this invaluable resource won’t offer you a rigid guide to M&A success–because there is no set way to make M&A work–but it will introduce you to the art and science of M&A valuation, reveal the nuances of deal negotiation and bargaining, as well as provide you with a framework for considering tradeoffs in an effort to optimize the value of any M&A deal.

Applied Mergers and Acquisitions with CD-ROM is filled with in-depth insights, expert advice, and numerous real-world M&A case studies that clearly illustrate the ideas described throughout the book. The ready-to-use template spreadsheet files provided on the companion CD-ROM will quickly show you how to start exercising your intuition and apply the ideas found in this book to your own deals. A value-added workbook, also available for purchase, will help you continue learning the M&A discipline by practicing it.

Important M&A issues discussed include:

• Strategies and the origination of transaction proposals
• Analysis of transaction proposals, terms, and tactics
• The design of detailed transaction terms
• Rules of the road: governance, laws, and regulations
• Competition, hostility, and behavioral effects in M&A
• Communication, integration, and best practices

Through a focus on ideas and their application, Applied Mergers and Acquisitions with CD-ROM answers many difficult M&A questions. Questions and problem sets, tailored to each chapter, will also help boost your understanding of the topics presented and review concepts that are not clear. By illustrating the tools, concepts, and processes essential to M&A success, this comprehensive survey of the M&A field will increase your chances of a favorable outcome in any potential deal.

From the Back Cover

"A well written and comprehensive journey into M&A...an essential reference for any M&A practitioner...this isn’t just a book about great thoughts and process, but rather how to turn insight into deals, and deals into lasting value."
–From the Foreword by Joseph R. Perella
Chairman, Institutional Securities and Investment Banking Group, Morgan Stanley

"Bob Bruner’s Applied Mergers and Acquisitions is a masterful and comprehensive treatment of the topic of M&A. The book is remarkably complete, discussing economic valuation, legal considerations, deal structure, ethics, accounting, post-merger integration–and more. It blends material from practice and from academia in an easy-to-read style, making it a must-read, and want-to-read, for anyone interested in this subject."
–Peter Tufano
Sylvan C. Coleman Professor of Financial Management, Harvard Business School

"Preeminent scholar Robert Bruner has combined the best insights from theory with proven lessons from industry to produce the definitive resource on mergers and acquisitions. Bruner’s renowned teaching skills and keen intellect are evident throughout, rendering a must-read for finance students, investors, and corporate executives into a remarkably enjoyable read."
–Mark Kritzman
Managing Partner, Windham Capital Management Boston and Research Director, The Research Foundation of the Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR)

"How many books really succeed in teaching M&A practitioners to distinguish among deals that should be avoided, deals that are promising but can’t be executed by the teams involved, and deals where significant value can be achieved? We should start the count with Bruner’s Applied Mergers and Acquisitions. Bruner is the ultimate teacher for practitioners who want to improve performance."
–Edward A. Snyder
Dean and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Economics, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business

"Bob Bruner has achieved the impossible: covering in one book all relevant economic, financial, accounting, legal, and tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions and illustrating each concept with case studies. Impressive!"
–Theo Vermaelen
Professor of Finance, INSEAD

"Bob Bruner’s book combines the best of academic thinking and business practice on one of the most fascinating and challenging topics in all of business. The area of mergers and acquisitions stretches executives and scholars to consider the whole realm of management practice–from strategy, to finance, to law, to negotiations, to integration planning, to human behavior."
–Robert S. Harris
Dean, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1056 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (April 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471395064
• ISBN-13: 978-0471395065
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 2.2 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #729,435 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert F. Bruner is the Dean of the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, the Charles C. Abbott Professor of Business Administration and the Distinguished Professor of Business Administration. His areas of teaching, research, and writing have been corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, investing in emerging markets, financial crises, and innovation. His latest book, The "Panic of 1907: Lessons Learned from the Market's Perfect Storm," with Sean D. Carr, was published in 2007. "Deals from Hell," published in 2005, focuses on failure in mergers and acquisitions. Also he is the author of "Applied Mergers and Acquisitions," a comprehensive text on the subject, which was published in 2004. His "Case Studies in Finance" was published in six editions, most recently in collaboration with Kenneth Eades and Michael Schill. Bruner's research has been published in various scholarly journals. Industrial corporations, financial institutions, and government agencies have retained him for counsel and training. He has been a member of the faculty of the Darden School since 1982, and has been a visiting professor at various schools including Columbia, INSEAD, and IESE. Formerly he was a loan officer and investment analyst for First Chicago Corporation. He holds degrees from Yale and Harvard Universities. He has served the Darden School, professional groups, and community organizations in various positions of leadership. Copies of his papers and essays may be obtained from his website, http://faculty.darden.virginia.edu/brunerb/.

Bob Bruner enjoys cooking, kayaking, hiking, bicycling, reading history, listening to all kinds of classical music (especially opera) and humor ranging from Mark Twain to Jerry Seinfeld.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Very useful M&A book, May 11, 2011

By 

Ruben Holguin Martinez (Mexico, DF Mexico) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Applied Mergers and Acquisitions, with CD-ROM (Wiley Finance) (Hardcover)

Something that is really outstanding about this book is the fact that covers every single aspect involved in the M&A activity: Business strategy, Due Diligence, Valuing Firms, Valuing Synergies, Real options, Deal design, Risk Management, Governance, Leadership, Ethics, Value creation (and destruction), post merger integration strategies, and so on. The book has 1027 pages with truly useful information, in-depth insights, more than 25 cases, many exhibits, examples, notes, etc., and it's written in clear and simple terms. The CD included contains many interesting and useful tools related with the M&A process.

Either as a student or a business responsible you may find in this book the answers to the majority of your M&A questions. And the great thing is whether you are a complete novice or an experienced professional, you will probably benefit reading this book.

Highly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars I needed it for school and the CD-ROM waas a huge help., March 21, 2008

By 

E. P. Nesbitt "MBA candidate" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Applied Mergers and Acquisitions, with CD-ROM (Wiley Finance) (Hardcover)

I needed this book for business school, but our student store did not have the copy with the CD-ROM. Purchasing the book with the disc was a huge plus. It has very helpful examples and exercises of some pretty intimidating math.

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Book, Very Good and Expensive CD, November 26, 2007

By 

Haitham Ahmed - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Applied Mergers and Acquisitions, with CD-ROM (Wiley Finance) (Hardcover)

This is the most complete book on M&A. I got the CD version that costs alot more. The content on the CD is good. But, if you dont want to spend money on the cd, the no-cd edition will make your day anyways