Mergers And Acquisitions Career Guide and Counseling

Question: What is the best source of information regarding business mergers / acquisitions ? I need information / advice regarding business mergers or acquisitions, particularly in the food industry. Any information will be greatly appreciated.

Answer: You might already know this, but the Yahoo finance site (finance.yahoo.com) is pretty good.

Question: I need to find a few companies that have had interesting mergers or acquisitions and I need articles to read.? I am in an MBA program and I am having a hard time thinking of companies that have had interesting and widely publicised mergers/acquisitions-- could anyone help me by listing a few articles and/or websites that would be helpful?

Answer: Here's a list of recent M&As. Google either the acquirer or acquiree and you should get the full story

Question: How do mergers and acquisitions affect a company's liquidity, share price? In general terms, for the larger company, who is acquiring or in the case of a merger (such as Symantec-VERITAS), how is the comapany's financial ratios and statistics affected? E.g how would Symantec's stats be affected in the example above. I am looking for generic answers here, or use of the above example. General points on what may happen in the case of mergers and acquisitions. Thanks in advance, for your time. Any help would be much appreciated.

Answer: In many cases the acquiring company's share price and liquidity are negatively affected. The reason is simple, the acquiring company has just expended assets on a business venture that has an uncertain outcome. If the acquiring company is able to integrate the acquired company's strenghts with its own, the upside will be much better than organic growth would allow in the same time period. That said, the ability to fully integrate seems a feat beyond the reach of even very good companies. For failed acquisitions look at Quaker Oats acquisition of Snapple a few years ago. Once they had Snapple in house they were totally unprepared to leverage the asset. For successes look at Nature's Bounty roll up of so-called "natural products" manufacturers. Very well done indeed.

Question: What is the role of a lawyer in a Mergers and Acquisitions transaction? I would like to study law and this is a topic which I will have to present at school. Basically, I will have to talk about Mergers and Acquisitions but I find it hard to relate it to law. My presentation sounds more like a business talk. So what should I include in it and what exactly is the role of a lawyer dealing with Mergers and Acquisitions? Thanks!

Answer: M&A is a specialized area of law dealing with not only the contracts, but also the financing, securities, real estate, corporate control and voting rights, technology licenses, and so forth. There may well be different laws that apply to different parts of the company, or its assets, so you may need a team of attorneys in more than one state. If done improperly, the shareholders of either company can sue the board of directors and the attorneys and accountants who set it all up.

Question: What college major will be useful in Mergers and Acquisitions ? I'm planning to become a transactional lawyer in the area of mergers and acquisitions. I'm considering Business/Finance as a major.

Answer: Finance would be good--a minor in economics would be helpful as well.

Question: Best degree for Mergers and Acquisitions work? What is the best college degree(s) for Mergers and Acquisitions work?

Answer: law or MBA (depending on what you want to do in M&A)

Question: Which website should I use to find out about future / potential mergers and acquisitions? I am looking to find out about mergers and acquisitions for investment purposes; how can I do this as quickly as possible?

Answer: You could start here: http://www.streetinsider.com/Mergers+and… But until they hear about it most M and A activity is secret.

Question: do you know about bank mergers and acquisitions in the Philippines and in the US? i need a complete list of bank mergers and acquisitions happened in the Philippines and in US. please indicate the source also. thanks...

Answer: http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&h…

Question: Why mergers and acquisitions often lead to the consolidation of positions or reductions in work force.? Describe why mergers and acquisitions often lead to the consolidation of positions or reductions in work force.

Answer: In addition to golfer's input, some M&A also results in re-focusing of marketing and sales into core competencies, possibly causing entire divisions to be "let go" or reorganized into remaining priority areas. Another factor is the management power changes in M&A could surface rivalries, incompetencies, and other ugly artifacts previously overlooked by cronies who are no longer in position to protect such unproductive behaviors.

Question: Website to find lists of mergers and acquisitions? I'm looking for a website that would list all the mergers and acquisitions that a company has made. For example I type in IBM and get a list of all the companies that IBM has bought or taken an interest in. Thanks!

Answer: I assume that it is yet to start such a blog.