M&A
Articles
The M&A Sell-Side Process: A Step-by-Step Guide from an Investment Bank's Perspective
How does an M&A sell-side process really work? An investment bank walks through all 10 phases - from Pitch and Teaser to Signing and Closing - and the key documents behind each one.
Why Do Companies Merge? Strategic vs. Financial Buyers Explained
M&A rationale explained: why companies acquire instead of growing organically, how strategic and financial buyers value targets differently, and when a deal creates value.
How to Answer 'Why Do Companies Do M&A?' in an Interview
A structured framework for answering the classic M&A interview question, plus a worked example showing how to test whether a deal actually creates value.
Strategic vs. Financial Buyer: The 3 Types of M&A Buyers Explained
Strategic acquirer, private equity fund, or family office — every M&A buyer type has different motivations, financing, and a different price ceiling. Here's how they differ.
How to Answer "Walk Me Through the Types of M&A Buyers" in an Interview
A step-by-step framework for answering the classic M&A interview question on strategic, private equity, and family office buyers — with a worked numerical example.
What Is Accretion/Dilution in M&A? EPS Impact Explained
A plain-English guide to accretion and dilution in M&A: what the terms mean, why the acquirer's P/E multiple drives the outcome, and how to spot it before building a full model.
How to Calculate Accretion/Dilution: A Step-by-Step Interview Walkthrough
Learn how to calculate accretion/dilution for a stock-for-stock M&A deal, step by step — exchange ratio, pro forma EPS, and the break-even P/E rule interviewers expect you to know.
What Is Accretion/Dilution Analysis? A Guide for M&A Interviews
A plain-English guide to accretion/dilution analysis in M&A: why it matters, the intuition behind cash vs. stock deals, and how synergies factor in.
How to Answer Accretion/Dilution Interview Questions (Step by Step)
A step-by-step framework for solving accretion/dilution interview questions, including the cash vs. stock mental-math shortcut and how to solve for synergy break-even.
What Is a Merger Consequences Model? Key Assumptions Explained
A merger consequences model combines acquirer and target financials to test if a deal is EPS-accretive or dilutive. Learn the key assumptions that drive the output.
How to Answer "Walk Me Through a Merger Model" in an Interview
A step-by-step framework for answering the merger consequences / accretion-dilution question in finance interviews, plus the follow-up most candidates miss.
What Are M&A Synergies? Revenue vs. Cost Synergies Explained
A clear breakdown of revenue and cost synergies in M&A, why interviewers care, and why cost synergies are trusted more than revenue synergies.
How to Calculate M&A Synergies in an Interview (Step-by-Step)
A step-by-step method for calculating risk-adjusted, phased M&A synergies — the approach interviewers expect in valuation and M&A cases.
Cash vs. Stock Deal: What's the Difference for Sellers?
A clear breakdown of how cash and stock consideration differ in M&A — tax treatment, ongoing risk, and what each choice signals about the buyer's conviction.
How to Answer 'Cash or Stock?' in an M&A Interview
How to structure an answer when an interviewer asks how you'd advise a client on cash vs. stock consideration in an M&A deal, with the framework and numbers to back it up.
What Is a MAC Clause in M&A? Material Adverse Change Explained
A plain-English guide to Material Adverse Change (MAC) clauses in M&A agreements: what they protect against, common carve-outs, and why they're rarely successfully invoked.
How to Answer MAC Clause Questions in an M&A Interview
How to structure an answer when an interviewer asks you to assess whether an event triggers a Material Adverse Change (MAC) clause, with the framework and a worked example.
Cases
What Is M&A and Why Do Companies Do It?
Why do companies pursue M&A instead of growing organically, and what's the difference between a strategic buyer and a financial buyer? Walk me through the main reasons companies do deals — and what typically causes those deals to destroy value instead of creating it.
Types of Buyers: Strategic, Private Equity, and Family Office
As a junior banker preparing a sell-side pitch, you are tasked with explaining how strategic acquirers, private equity buyers, and family offices differ in their motivations and required returns, and using that framework to estimate the enterprise value each buyer type would realistically offer for a mid-market target.
Accretion/Dilution: The Basic Concept
As an M&A analyst, you are tasked with determining whether a proposed 100% stock acquisition will be accretive or dilutive to the acquirer's earnings per share (EPS), and explaining why EPS accretion or dilution isn't the only metric that matters when judging whether a deal makes sense.
Full Accretion/Dilution Analysis
As an M&A analyst, you are tasked with building a full accretion/dilution analysis for an acquisition — modeling pro-forma EPS under both an all-cash and an all-stock consideration structure, and then solving for the pre-tax synergies each structure would need to reach EPS breakeven.
Merger Consequences Model
Combining two companies: key assumptions and what the output tells you
Synergy Case: Revenue and Cost
As an M&A analyst working on a merger between two companies, you have been asked to quantify the deal's revenue and cost synergies, build a realistic multi-year timeline for capturing them, apply probability-weighting to reflect execution risk, and phase the value into the combined company's financial plan.
Cash vs. Stock Consideration
As an M&A analyst advising the board of the target company, you are tasked with comparing what the seller actually receives — and how much risk they retain — under a cash offer versus a stock offer for the same $400 million headline price.
MAC Clause and Deal Closing Risk
Material adverse change: what qualifies, negotiation dynamics