Merger

Acquisition Team Project

The purpose of the Acquisition Project is to give you the opportunity to apply the tools you have

learned to a real world business situation. Each team will be asked to represent an acquiring

company or investment group whose business strategy involves an acquisition or merger. The

acquiring and target firms must be in the same industry. The acquisition can involve a recent

transaction (i.e., announced within the last 12 to 18 months), a current transaction, or a

hypothetical transaction involving two publicly traded firms, private companies, or some

combination. The use of publicly traded companies will facilitate data collection, and the

selection of companies in the same industry will simplify the analysis by eliminating the need to

analyze two different industries.

Selecting Companies to Study: The Project’s success will depend greatly on the Team’s ability to

understand the company’s operations, products, and the competitive dynamics of the industry in

which it competes and to obtain financial, technical and market-related information on the

company. Teams are encouraged (but not required) to select a publicly traded company, because

both internal financial and operating data, as well as market/industry data, are likely to be more

readily available than for private firms.

While there are no restrictions on the size and type of company you select, I suggest that teams

select relatively small, uncomplicated businesses such as single product, independent companies

or operating units within larger companies. For those teams that choose to select privately owned

companies, small companies, particularly those that are considering “going public” or attempting

to obtain additional funding from venture capitalists, may be more receptive to cooperating with

your team. Contacting the president, general manager, or chief financial officer of the company

or division is a good place to start. Commercial and industrial parks...