Masterminding the Deal - by Peter Clark & Roger Mills (Paperback)

About the Book

Provides a unique assessment of M&A activity over the coming decade, looking at both the factors that shape successful deals, and reviewing the valuation techniques used to price them.

Book Synopsis

Following a quiet period in global M&A activity, a new boom seems to be underway, but in an age where two-thirds of all merger deals can be said to fail (where deals fall short of the minimum required financial returns to the acquiring company), how can future success be guaranteed? And what can acquirers, and their shareholders and advisers, do to improve the chances of success?

Masterminding the Deal looks at performance in two critical areas - merger segmentation (the identification of critical characteristics and attributes separating more successful mergers from the rest) and category-specific synergy diagnosis (the differentiation of synergy benefits - expenses, revenues, tax - to ensure maximum rewards). Through this in-depth analysis, the book provides the managers and advisers of acquiring firms with concise and actionable frameworks to improve and enhance merger performance. Masterminding the Deal will help you to identify and apply the key components of merger success.

Review Quotes

""[B]oth a guidebook for corporate boards and executives and a research tool for investors...A book that more deal-chasers should read.""--Brenda Jubin, Investing.com

""For a long time we have read about the failure rates of M&As. We have also been on the receiving end of explanations of the reasons for failure. These have tended to be generic and rather high level - not usually helpful to practitioners! Masterminding the Deal presents us with a practical framework for examining potential deals and identifying areas that need to be addressed. This book combines the rigorous analysis of past cases with relevance to practitioners.""--Professor Malcolm Higgs, Director of the Southampton Management School

""Masterminding The Deal is a great tool to improve merger success. It starts with a very insightful analysis of why so many past mergers have failed, and then presents a very practical guidebook to help companies realistically appraise a deal's chance of success and to identify ways to improve their chances of making a successful acquisition"."--Stephen F. O'Byrne, President, Shareholder Value Advisors Inc.

""Most swings are strikes, marriages end in divorce, and exploratory wells are dry holes. And yet batters continue to go to the plate, lovers to the alter, and wildcatters to new basins and fields. Masterminding the Deal gives M&A dealmakers cause for continued bullishness.""--Justin Pettit, Vice President, IHS

""Peter Clark and Roger Mills's book demonstrates the need to go beyond the hyperbole of M&A and to test the efficiency claims made.""--Nils von Hinten Reed, Partner, CEG Europe

About the Author

Peter Clark is a Lecturer (Senior Teaching Fellow) at University College London, within the Department of Management Science and Innovation, where he teaches finance at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He is a leading author and commentator in merger and IPO-related finance field and has more than 20 years' experience in mergers and acquisitions, involving more than US$3bn in transaction values.
Roger Mills is Emeritus Professor of Finance and Accounting at Henley Business School, University of Reading, and, most recently, was Professor of Fundamental Analysis and Business Valuation at the VU University in Amsterdam. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, and the Association of Corporate Treasurers.