In a business climate marked by escalating global competition and industry disruption, successful mergers and acquisitions are increasingly vital to the growth and profitability of many corporations. If history is any guide, 60 to 70 per cent of new mergers will fail – and will destroy shareholder value. To date, analyses of the M&A failure rate tend to focus on individual causes – e.g., culture clashes, valuation methods, or CEO overconfidence – rather than examining the problem holistically. The Value Killers is the first book based on a holistic analysis of successful and unsuccessful transactions. Based on research, interviews with top executives, and case studies, this book identifies the key causes of failures and successes and offers prescriptions to increase the odds that future transactions will deliver all the anticipated synergies.
The Value Killers offers practical advice in the form of 5 Golden Rules. These rules will help managers and boards to ensure that target companies are properly valued; potential synergies and risks are identified in advance; checks and balances are installed to make sure that the pros and cons of the transaction are rationally and objectively evaluated; mechanisms are created that will trigger termination of bad deals; and obstacles to successful post-merger integrations are assessed (and solutions developed) before the deal closes. Each chapter includes questions for executives considering future M&As to allow them to see whether they are on the right track or not.
Nuno Fernandes is Full Professorof Finance at IESE Business School. He is also the Chairman of the Board ofAuditors of the Portuguese Central Bank (Banco de Portugal), Non-Executive(Member of Audit Committee) at the European Investment Bank, and a ResearchAssociate of the European Corporate Governance Institute.
Priorto joining IESE, he was the Dean of Católica Lisbon School of Business andEconomics. In addition, he was, for a decade, Professor of Finance at IMD(Lausanne, Switzerland). He was also a member of the Advisory Committee for theWorld Economic Forum, and a Visiting Scholar at Columbia Business School (NewYork).
Aspecialist in valuation, international financial markets, and emerging marketrisks, Professor Fernandes has received numerous teaching and research awards.He has been published in leading international academic journals, includingthe Journal of Financial Economics, Review of FinancialStudies, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal ofFinancial Intermediation, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, andthe Journal of Portfolio Management.
Hespeaks at business conferences worldwide, and is a regular contributor tointernational media, including the Financial Times and the WallStreet Journal.
ProfessorFernandes regularly advises companies and financial institutions in Asia,Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East on formulating winning financialstrategies, investments, international valuations, M&As, and riskmanagement.
