Explore M&A, in simple termsMergers & Acquisitions For Dummies provides useful techniques and real-world advice for anyone involved with - or thinking of becoming involved with - transactional work. Whether you are a transactions pro, a service provider tangentially involved in transactions, or a student thinking of becoming an investment banker, this book will provide the insights and knowledge that will help you become successful. Business owners and executives will also find this book helpful, not only when they want to buy or sell a company, but if they want to learn more about what improves a company's value. The evaluation process used by M&A professionals to transact a business sale is often quite different from the processes used by owners and executives to manage those businesses.In plain English terms that anyone can understand, this book details the step-by-step M&A process, describes different types of transactions, demonstrates various ways to structure a deal, defines methods to identify and contact targets, provides insights on how to finance transactions, reveals what helps and hurts a company's valuation, offers negotiating tips, explains how to perform due diligence, analyzes the purchase agreement, and discloses methods to help ensure the combined companies are successfully integrated. If you're getting involved with a merger or an acquisition, this book will help you gain a thorough understanding of what the heck is going on. Updates to this second edition include quality of earnings reports, representation and warranty insurance, how to hire investment bankers, changes to the offering documents, the rise of family offices, and the ubiquity of adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) as a basis for valuation.* Understand the merger and acquisition process in a simple, easy-to-understand manner* Learn the nomenclature and terminology needed to talk and act like a player* Determine how to hire the people who will help you conduct M&A deals* Discover tips on how to successfully negotiate transactionsMergers & Acquisitions For Dummies is a great choice for business owners and executives, students, service providers, and anyone interested in M&A transactions.

Introduction 1Part 1: Planning to Do a Transaction 9Chapter 1: Explaining Mergers and Acquisitions 11Chapter 2: Learning M&A Rules and Decorum 27Chapter 3: Utilizing the M&A Process 37Chapter 4: Making Sense of the Economics of M&A 43Chapter 5: Finding Buyers and Sellers 67Part 2: Marketing the Transaction 101Chapter 6: Explaining and Influencing Valuation 103Chapter 7: Creating and Reviewing an Offering Document 129Chapter 8: Reading and Writing the Offers 161Part 3: Selling the Transaction 177Chapter 9: Selecting Advisors 179Chapter 10: Hiring an Investment Banker 193Chapter 11: Arranging Meetings Between Buyer and Seller 207Chapter 12: Financing the Transaction 219Chapter 13: Learning How to Negotiate Successfully 245Part 4: Concluding and Combining 267Chapter 14: Confirming Due Diligence 269Chapter 15: Documenting the Transaction 283Chapter 16: Closing and Integrating the Acquisition 293Chapter 17: Ensuring a Successful Acquisition 309Part 5: The Part of Tens 325Chapter 18: Ten Transaction Pitfalls 327Chapter 19: Ten Reasons Acquisitions Fail 331Chapter 20: Ten Lurking Problems for Sellers 335Index 339