Rating: 
Summary: Weak sister to other John Wiley Classics
Review: As a graduate professor who teaches several course on M&A, I've chosen two other efforts from publisher John Wiley for this year's curriculum over Pat Gaughan's updated version of his old book. Jeffrey Hooke's "Practical Guide to Doing the Deal" covers most of the same material in a more interesting style and "Winning at Mergers & Acquisitions" shows my students how all of this applies to the real world. Mark Clemente & David Greenspan, authors of "Winning at M&A", helped my students to understand the business rationale behind deals and brought to light many of the reasons so many corporate combinations fail. In addition, the juicy chapters on strategy, due diligence and culture and a whole section on integration best practices -- I feel -- will prepare serious readers on the topic and students of business alike for the M&A challenges that actually exist in corporate America today. Case studies and testaments on what works and what doesn't from corporate VPs and CEOs involved in mergers and acquisitions make "Winning at M&A" the core content I've already added to next year's syllabus. As for John Wiley's reprinting of Gaughan's book, they probably should have asked Hooke and Gaughan to collaborate on an updated version rather than publish two versions of the same manuscript.
Rating:
Summary: Weak sister to other John Wiley Classics
Review: As a graduate professor who teaches several course on M&A, I've chosen two other efforts from publisher John Wiley for this year's curriculum over Pat Gaughan's updated version of his old book. Jeffrey Hooke's "Practical Guide to Doing the Deal" covers most of the same material in a more interesting style and "Winning at Mergers & Acquisitions" shows my students how all of this applies to the real world. Mark Clemente & David Greenspan, authors of "Winning at M&A", helped my students to understand the business rationale behind deals and brought to light many of the reasons so many corporate combinations fail. In addition, the juicy chapters on strategy, due diligence and culture and a whole section on integration best practices -- I feel -- will prepare serious readers on the topic and students of business alike for the M&A challenges that actually exist in corporate America today. Case studies and testaments on what works and what doesn't from corporate VPs and CEOs involved in mergers and acquisitions make "Winning at M&A" the core content I've already added to next year's syllabus. As for John Wiley's reprinting of Gaughan's book, they probably should have asked Hooke and Gaughan to collaborate on an updated version rather than publish two versions of the same manuscript.
Rating: 
Summary: Won Book of the Year in its category from Assoc Amer Publish
Review: I am proud to say that this book won the Book of the Year Award in its category from the Association of American Publishers. I hope the readers find it insightful. In writing the book I have tried to present the material, some of what is a little technical, in a very readable manner. In doing so, I have tried to combine the worlds of the practitioner with that of the researcher. It is hoped that the reader will get the benefit of both of these worlds without being burdened with a lot of jargon or technicalities. Readers have told me that they enjoyed the pragmatic orientation of the book. I hope you will agree.
Rating: 
Summary: The bible for M&As and Corporate Restructerings.
Review: I anxiously awaited the publication of this third edition. And, I was not at all dissapointed. This book provides the most current, comprehensive, and thought provoking information on corporate restructerings. The case studies and reseach are very practical and add immense value to the book. It is the only book that I am aware of that thoroughly addresses the corporate finance, legal, economic, and valuation considerations for all types of corporate restructerings (M&As, LBOs, joint ventures, etc.)
Rating:
Summary: The bible for M&As and Corporate Restructerings.
Review: I anxiously awaited the publication of this third edition. And, I was not at all dissapointed. This book provides the most current, comprehensive, and thought provoking information on corporate restructerings. The case studies and reseach are very practical and add immense value to the book. It is the only book that I am aware of that thoroughly addresses the corporate finance, legal, economic, and valuation considerations for all types of corporate restructerings (M&As, LBOs, joint ventures, etc.)
Rating:
Summary: This is a Must Read
Review: I found in this book very detailed sources of information on mergers and acquisitions. The case studies are a great way to identify the information you are looking for. I specially enjoyed Chapter 6 which discusses the main alternatives available to an hostile bidder. I found it very helpful in explaining basic takeover tactics.
This book is a must read!!
Rating:
Summary: "Mergers, Acquisitions and Corporate Restructuring A Winner"
Review: I throughly enjoyed reading Patrick Gaughan's book on Mergers, Acquisitions and Corportate Restrucurings. I am the president of a printing firm and was thinking along the lines of merging my company with another interested party down the road. I purchased Gaughan's book and it helped me understand how mergers worked in an easy to understand format. I have become more educated in this field by reading his book which would help me make better decisions in the future of my business. I highly recommend this to any professor teahing this course or for any CEO or COO who is also thinking along the lines of consolidation.Kerry Monahan President Concept Printing,Inc. Bergenfield, NJ
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, concise, pratical M&A + Corp Restructuring guide
Review: Mergers, Acquisitions and Corporate Restructuring provides informative context and key formulae for both the practitioner and lay-person without ad nauseum details. Patrick Gaughan highlights corporate finance resolutions to business strategy and organization challenges in relevent business cases providing insight to successful transactions. Significantly more readable and concise than McKinsey Consulting's Valuations tome, yet covers similar material. It's not surprising that this book won the Book of the Year Award in its category from the Association of American Publishers. Congrats (and thank you) to Patrick Gaughan!
Rating: 
Summary: Good but incomplete
Review: On the whole this is a good book for someone looking to get an overview of M and A. It is well written and reasonably well organized, with an interesting discussion of recent transactions and trends. However, the book continues to suffer from some of the problems in earlier editions. It omits subjects that one would expect to find in an effective M and A textbook. These include integration, alternative strategies to M and A such as JVs, a discussion of how acquisitions support business strategies, how target companies can be identified, target firm contact strategies, etc., how to conduct due diligence, how to build M and A financial models, negotiation strategies, sophisticated valuation methods, etc. There are a number of other books which do a much better job in addressing these areas rather than providing an overview of industry trends, etc. Examples of such books include Fred Weston's M&A (the brief edition) and Donald Depamphilis (?) book Mergers, Acquisitions, and other Restructuring. There are books on this subject that are gems, however, Gaughan's isn't' one of them.
Rating:
Summary: Good, not too boring
Review: Pretty good, used by NYU's famous professor Yermack. The small snippets about takeovers and why bankruptcies are sometimes good is great!
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