The book also assumes substantial knowledge of accounting, finance and economics on the part of the reader. The dearth of examples also hinders the readers ability to readily understand how to apply complex concepts explained in torturous paragraphs of prose. It would have been helpful to use more illustrations to communicate concepts that are difficult for those of us that don't have Phds to understand.

Thankfully, there are other books that are far more helpful in explaining both theory and application of M&A. I have found Mckinsey's book on Measuring and Managing Valuation to be a much better guide to understanding how to apply complex valuation techniques. Integration methodology is well explained in Marks and Clemente's Winning at Mergers. For an excellent detailed overview of M&A, see Depamphlis Mergers Acquisitions and Other Restructuring or Weston's other, more recent book on M&A.

8 of 9 found the following review helpful:


Interesting Subject... Boring Book  Feb 07, 2005 By Paul Ireland
The subject of this book is quite interesting and the knowledgable authors add many insights into the field of Mergers and Aquisitions. However, the book is poorly written and designed. Simply opening the book will show colorless pages and bland figures that perfectly reflect the tone and content within. There is also a surprising number of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors (something I should not expect if I'm paying over $100 for a book).

10 of 12 found the following review helpful:


Largely Disappointing  May 12, 2001
The book is really only useful for those interested in a literature survey, discussion of public policy, and somewhat tedious discussion of theoretical concepts.

7 of 8 found the following review helpful:


Broad coverage but lacks focus  Jun 25, 1999
Three cheers (stars) for Weston's attempt to cover a vast subject in less than 500 pages of manuscript. My criticism is precisely that: the book skims the surface of a multitude of issues, providing tremendous overview and perspective, but little focus on specific topics.

Rather than a narrative like many books on this subject, Weston uses the layout of a university text book. This has pluses and minuses. At best, it gives the reader an opportunity to see the range of issues in a single framework; at worst, one comes away with little discussion of specific topics. For example, what insight can be gained from a single page discussion of such diverse and complex issues as CAPM, Porter's Five Forces and financial restructuring?

Clearly this book is for the MBA student with background understanding or the practioner who wants to see the wide array of issues in perspective. Nonetheless, I do find this a superior reference book: there are case discussions of all the recent and significant deals (through 1998), both US and European. Here, Weston provides more insight than Wasserstein's "Big Deal" by giving academic perspective and context to many headline M&A deals.

4 of 5 found the following review helpful:


Good literature overview  Mar 31, 2000
Most sections have a good overview, although debt restructuring is handled better. Some sections like recap's , LBO's and share repurchases are well written. The book will become more relevant as HLT's emerge once again.

Haven't seen a better book on restructuring and reorganizations. Having said that, i'd like to see a new edition soon.

A caveat; this is not a text. It assumes a level of competence on the subject and is an extremely good reference.

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