A conversation with Professor Stephen G. Morrissette on M&A strategy during shaky markets

By William Jefferson Black & Prof. Stephen G. Morrissette

Although it’s difficult to assess the turbulence in today’s M&A environment, dealmakers face some exciting opportunities. 

In this wide-ranging discussion with Stephen G. Morrissette, Ph.D, a Visiting Professor of Strategic Management at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, we discussed M&A strategy during shaky markets and the challenges that are unique to periods where deal flow slows.

According to Professor Morrissette, a classic mistake is...

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A conversation with Al Ansari on "Unraveling the Mystery of M&A Integration and Divestiture Success"

A conversation with Al Ansari on "Unraveling the Mystery of M&A Integration and Divestiture Success"
By William Jefferson Black

Al Ansari is an M&A veteran, having worked on more than 80 acquisitions and divestitures worth an estimated $25 billion. Al has spent time on the deal team at Cisco, Gilead Science, Rambus, VMware, eBay, SanDisk, VeriSign, and Xilinx.

From his home in Silicon Valley, we connected with Al to learn more about his book Unraveling the Mystery of M&A Integration and Divestiture Success and some of the M&A approaches and methodologies...

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Study on M&A value creation shows high level of divestiture activity

By Mr. Les Baird & Mr. David Harding & Mr. Andrei Vorobyov & Ms. Shikha Dhar

Divestitures represented almost two-thirds of strategic deals, by value, during the past decade.

The authors of this study, from the consulting firm Bain & Co., look at divestitures as opportunities to release, “the time, talent and energy tied up in nonstrategic businesses”.  They also point to the freeing of capital for higher growth pursuits as they study companies that use divestitures more often.

Their research on M&A value creation over the past two decades shows that...

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Why do acquirers outperform in a weak economy?

By Dr. Jens Kengelbach & Dr. Georg Keienburg & Mr. Jeff Gell & Mr. Jesper Nielsen & Dr. Maximilian Bader & Mr. Dominik Degen & Prof. Sönke Sievers

When economic downturns roil markets across the world and investors witness their returns diminish, dealmakers stand to benefit from downturns. Rather than retreating to the sidelines, dealmakers often reap significant returns from deals done in weak economies compared to returns from deals completed in strong market conditions.

This paper presents an analysis of the performance of strong- and weak-economy deals, comparing deals after two years from the time of announcement. Generally, the researchers distilled two key imperatives for....

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New research compares M&A strategies and overall shareholder returns

By Mr. Jeff Rudnicki & Mr. Andy West & Kate Siegel

Companies that regularly pursue moderately-sized transactions generally outperformed peers, according to research conducted by the authors of this paper, which studied overall shareholder returns versus transformational deals.

The research showed the most successful companies are placing “multiple bets” and being “nimble with [their capital]” while making several acquisitions even...

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