The “Market” is Not Always Right When it Comes to Value, Especially in M&A Transactions The mergers and acquisitions market began a slow recovery this last year after a sharp downturn in 2009. Was the slowdown caused by banks reducing lending activity, cash hoarding by businesses, economic uncertainty, or the simple failure of buyers and seller to agree upon price? Michael Blake takes a look at how value is variously defined—“fair market value,” “fair value,” “investment value,” and “market value”—and offers an assessment of what may prove to be the primary market M&A activity drivers going forward.
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Competitive Intelligence is Key to Smart Acquisitions Part of growth is acquisition. To do smart acquisitions, you need insight into a business owner’s thoughts—specifically, her concerns vis-à-vis selling the businesses. These are not questions with simple yes or no answers; it’s more critical to figure out what an owner thought was missing in previous acquisition overtures. What, aside from price, will it take an owner to sit down and discuss a sale? The McLean Groups’s Zane Markowitz offers a case study and blow-by-blow analysis.