BUS 639 - Mergers, Acquisitions, and Corporate Restructuring

Prerequisite, BUS 607, or EMBA 607. This seminar focuses on the critical corporate level strategic decisions that managers must make about the combination of assets a firm will hold and how those assets will be deployed and integrated to sustain a competitive advantage. Topics include mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, leveraged buyouts, divestitures, corporate restructuring, and related governance issues. Particular emphasis will be placed on mergers and acquisitions. Students learn how to value and structure acquisitions, and how to manage them to achieve their greatest contribution to firm value. Hostile takeovers, friendly mergers, and acquisitions of entrepreneurial enterprises are addressed in detail. Guest speakers with directly relevant experience are invited to address the class. (Offered as needed.) 3 credits