Mergers & acquisitions are an essential instrument of strategic corporate management for companies of all sizes. The success of an M&A project highly depends on an optimal transaction preparation, fast execution and the experience of all parties involved. Due to numerous endogenous and exogenous influences, no two M&A transactions are alike at the detailed level. This book is designed as a practical M&A guide for students and professionals alike. In addition to dealing with important basics of mergers & acquisitions, the focus is on a structured and in-depth examination of the individual process steps of a typical company sale. At various points in this book, specific differences between a company sale of medium-sized companies (mid-caps) and large companies (large-caps) are discussed in detail.

Maximilian Dreher is an investment banking and corporate finance professional. He has worked on multiple cross-border M&A transactions and structured close to 500 acquisition financing projects during his banking career. He is currently working as an investment manager for a leading German venture capital company.Dr. Dr. Dietmar Ernst is Professor of Corporate Finance at the International School of Finance at the University of Applied Sciences in Nürtingen (Germany). He is also the director of the European Institute of Quantitative Finance (EIQF). Dietmar Ernst worked for many years as an M&A consultant, private equity manager and company valuation specialist in various banks.