Customer Reviews

Reverse Mergers: Taking a Company Public Without an IPO

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Only a few years ago, it seemed that nearly every company was going public with an IPO. Now many quality companies are locked out of the IPO market, but companies have other ways to go public. One of the most popular paths is a "reverse merger." In this transaction, your private company merges into a public company (often a "shell") and controls it, giving you a public stock with which to raise capital. This may sound shady, but it's not: many well-known companies have gone public through reverse mergers, including Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, Turner Broadcasting System, Occidental Petroleum and Blockbuster Entertainment. Experienced Wall Street securities attorney David N. Feldman takes you through the reverse merger process in detail. The book is wonderfully clear and thorough, and should become the definitive textbook on reverse mergers. It is, however, a dry read. A profusion of technical rules and especially acronyms (SPAC, SOX, Form 10-B, Rule 419, Regulation A, SB-2, PIPE) make the book slightly MEGO (My Eyes Glaze Over) for the uninitiated - but then, they are not its target audience. We enthusiastically recommend this book to sophisticated investors, lawyers, accountants, investment bankers and executives who want all the details on this increasingly popular financing technique.

Well, maybe it didn't exactly change my life, but it gave my law firm a new direction. My firm specializes in strategic transactions - initial public offerings, private placements, mergers & acquisitions - but we had steered clear of reverse mergers because of the uncertainty and confusion. Feldman and Dresner cleared up that confusion we now offer reverse mergers as part of our services.

This book showed the mechanics of structuring a reverse merger, how to create shell corporations and guidelines on financing. It covers due diligence, securities filings and and plenty of mistakes to avoid.

Whether you're an attorney, accountant, investment banker, business owner or private investor, this book will offer you an new strategy for growth and finance by way of reverse mergers.

With this book, David Feldman takes the mystery out of reverse mergers. Going public via an APO (alternative public offering) is a legitimate way to take a micro-cap company public while raising the necessary funds to grow the business. His strategies and insights, written in plain English, are invaluable for any CEO/CFO who is contemplating a reverse merger, especially after the recent SEC rulings. I would, however, caution that the book is not a do-it-yourself "how-to-guide" but rather a starting point to get acquainted with the reverse merger process. My biggest take-away is to make sure you bring in a capable and experienced team of advisers to make the reverse merger process a seamless transaction.

This is a most informative book and tells you how to do it. The concept is mysterious at first but is clearly explained in this book. It is a must for anyone considering taking his business public. I highly recomend it.

I'll let all the others leave more wordy reviews. Suffice it to say that I feel this book takes you to an entirely higher level of understanding on the topic of going public with your company.
The author is THE MAN in the entire world on this subject.
He is in a class by himself and does an outstanding job of breaking it down into layman terms.
BUY THIS BOOK!

I liked this book. It's probably not one that a small business owner would be particularly interested in reading. But I think it would be relevant. I found it to be well written and well outlined. And it didn't take me all that long to get from page one to the end. But I am a CPA and attorney. That might have helped me out a little.

The author is a securities attorney. He consults to companies that are not public, but would like to be. He advises them how to do what are called "Reverse Mergers" so their nonpublic company can merge into an already public company and voila - be a public company. This book explains how a reverse merger works - both from a business and a legal perspective.

Without a doubt this book is a marketing piece for the author and his 23-attorney law firm. If a client approaches him and doesn't know much about reverse mergers, then the author can either charge by the hour for an explanation, or hand the prospect a copy of this book. The prospect would be well advised to accept this book and read it and save a ton of money.

From reading the book it appeared that reverse mergers are not all that popular these days. It's difficult or expensive to find a target in which to merge. And then there are the legal fees. But it certainly is an option. And one that should be considered when planning to take a company public. 5 stars!

PS. Examine the Search Inside feature provided by Amazon for this book. It includes the book's Table of Contents which will tell you more specifically than I what is included in this book.

A well put together tome about getting a company publicly traded. If you are in the finance biz (like me) you may find this book useful in filling in some of those pesky 'knowledge holes'. As someone who has financed companies for ten(+) years I have come across all management types. The good, the really bad, the totally clueless and the corrupt. This book touched on these types a little but I thought that adding a few 'war stories' might have added more color to some concepts or points. If you are in the industry this would be a good book to review. If you are not in the industry this book would be about exciting as 'Mime Magic' or 'Extreme Hand Puppeteering'..

If you want to know the right way to organize and structure Reverse Mergers, this is the book to go for. It's an excellent up to date reference as well as a guidebook of do's, don'ts and "tricks of the trade"; even better, it's written so both newbies and professionals can benefit from it.

At the very minimum, Reverse Mergers will pay for itself many times over in saved legal fees; more importantly it will almost certainly save you a lot of time and may well save you from some very expensive mistakes. If you intend to do anything in this area, Mr. Feldman's book is undoubtedly the best $50 investment you can make.