COURSE NUMBER:  EWMBA 236E.11

COURSE TITLE:  Mergers & Acquisitions

UNITS OF CREDIT: 2 units

INSTRUCTOR:  Peter Bershatsky

E-MAIL ADDRESS: pbershatsky@hotmail.com

COURSE MEETING DATES: 10 class sessions, Saturdays 9AM-12PM on the following dates (updated 7/31/2017)

1) 8/26
2) 9/9
3) 9/16
4) 9/23
5) 10/7
6) 10/14
7) 10/21
8) 10/28
9) 11/4
10) 11/18

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION:  bCourses

PREREQUISITE(S):  EWMBA 203 Introduction to Finance

CLASS FORMAT: Mixture of lectures, case discussions and visitors, with a final project

REQUIRED READINGS: Textbook, cases and articles

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: TBD

CAREER FIELD: The course is relevant for students seeking a career in investment banking, corporate development, management consulting, or private equity. Since most executives face situations related to business combinations at some point in their career, it is also useful for anyone pursuing a career in the corporate sector who wants a deeper understanding of central issues in M&A.

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
This course covers a broad range of issues related to corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Students will develop skills necessary to structure a deal or form an opinion about a proposed transaction. The topics include value creation in mergers, choice of payment method, valuation of contingent payments, deal protection devices, empty voting, merger arbitrage, bidding strategies, merger negotiations, minority buyouts, hostile takeovers, defensive tactics, private equity, due diligence and post-closing integration – with a particular emphasis on issues frequently found in technology, media, and other high growth markets.  We also cover key elements of the legal and regulatory framework for takeovers, such as filing requirements, fiduciary duties of the target board of directors, and antitrust regulation The course relies heavily on case analysis, providing plenty of opportunity to perform merger analysis and practice corporate valuation techniques.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
Peter Bershatsky (Haas MBA ’98) has 20 years’ experience working with technology companies as an M&A investment Banker, Consultant, and Corporate Development Executive.   Peter is currently Director of Corporate Development at Amazon, where he manages M&A and Investments for the $13B Cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services. Prior to that, Peter held Corporate Development leadership positions at several public Bay Area tech companies, including Telenav (TNAV), Intuit (INTU) and Electronics for Imaging (EFII).