Mergers, Acquisitions, and Other Restructuring Activities, 6th Edition

Chapter 2

Regulatory Considerations

Character is doing the right thing when no one is looking.

—J. C. Watts

Inside M&A: The limitations of regulation and the lehman brothers meltdown

Even though regulations are needed to promote appropriate business practices, they may also produce a false sense of security. Regulatory agencies often are coopted by those they are supposed to be regulating due to an inherent conflict of interest. The objectivity of regulators can be skewed by the prospect of future employment in the firms they are responsible for policing. No matter how extensive, regulations are likely to fail to achieve their intended purpose in the absence of effective regulators.

Consider the 2008 credit crisis that shook Wall Street to its ...