2011 M&A Forecast
As every year, I would like to start the new year with some thoughts about the M&A volume for the coming year. I’ll be upfront about my outlook for 2011: it will be better than 2010, which itself was better than 2009. See below: There’s a lot of interesting things about the chart above. Most...
M&A Maturity Index — Emerging markets for M&A
If you want to expand overseas — from whatever your base — what do you do? Start up new in a country in which you’ve never operated before? Maybe a joint venture? Do a big acquisition there? If you’ve decided that an acquisition is the best route forward, then you have the big decision to...
M&A Hype: Has the market turned?
Readers of this blog know that I do not usually try to predict the M&A market. I like to look at longer-term trends, trying to identify the drivers for the next merger wave and seeking to provide some guidance on what will make it turn upwards. I continue to insist that M&A is a confidence...
The Wall Street Journal on why CEO’s do M&A deals quickly after being appointed
There’s been a lot of press reaction to our recent report on what happens when a new CEO takes over: ‘Here’s the deal: move fast as a new CEO’. The report was written by Cass Business School and the M&A Research Centre (MARC) (which I head). See also my blog entry ‘What comes next? Change your...
Due Diligence Requirements in M&A Deals
In QFinance, a very extensive on-line financial markets resource, I’ve written an article entitled ‘Due Diligence Requirements in Financial Transactions‘. Due diligence is a critical business intelligence process, and in our book on the use of business intelligence in doing M&A deals better (Intelligent M&A, Navigating the Mergers and Acquisitions Minefield), the chapter on due...
Equity Market Reactions to the announcement of an M&A Deal
Of principal concern to a dealmaker — whether the board of the acquiring company or the CEO recommending the deal — is whether the share price of the company will rise on the announcement of the acquisition of a target company … and by how much. Of course the target company’s share price will rise; ...
Article on CEOs and M&A deals
Thanks to Stefan Stern, the ‘On Management’ columnist in the Financial Times for his article on 18 May on our recent report on what happens when a new CEO takes over: ‘Here’s the deal: move fast as a new CEO’. That is, they do M&A deals. See my blog entry ‘What comes next? Change your CEO...
What comes next? Change your CEO and (bang!) you’re acquiring another company
Many things happen when a company gets a new CEO. Cass Business School and the M&A Research Centre (MARC) (which I head) have just released a study showing that CEO’s embark on M&A deals very quickly after being appointed. In the study which looked at 276 CEO changes from 1997 to 2009 in the UK,...
Why is European M&A so slow right now?
In the past two weeks, I’ve received numerous calls asking to explain why the M&A market in Europe was so slow in April. Some of my comments have appeared in the Wall Street Journal and Financial News in articles entitled ‘Europe M&A Lags Behind World‘ and ‘European M&A set for worst month in a decade‘...
Why you should do an M&A deal now
Several months ago, Legg Mason strategist Michael Mauboussin published a report entitled ‘Surge in the Urge to Merge‘. Based on some academic research reported in 2008 in the Academy of Management Journal, companies that invested in deals early in a merger cycle are more likely to be successful with their takeovers than those who invest...
Football team acquisitions in the UK
Fascinating article — especially at this time of the year when the European football season is coming to an exciting close — about the M&A deals in involving European football clubs. Liam Vaughan has written an article in the Financial News about this: ‘Football deals reach fever pitch’ (I’ve provided the link to the article,...
2010 in review: Intelligent Mergers Blog