Mergers and Acquisitions from A to Z, 3rd Edition

Introduction to the Third Edition

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

When Dickens first shared this quote with the world, he was not referring to the merger and acquisition (M&A) market from 2005 to 2009, but he might as well have been. In the time between the publication of the second edition of this book in 2005 and today, the overall financial markets and the levels of M&A activity have experienced both polar opposites and everything in between. From the seemingly insatiable appetite for middle-market companies that private equity firms and other buyers had in 2006 and 2007, thereby driving valuations through the roof, to the fast ending to the party and the sobering effects of a virtual halt in 2008 to 2009, sending valuations ...