The market for corporate control had been the playfield of bust-up artists and speculators seeking short-time profits during the 1980s. This had also encouraged many innovations in the art of hostile takeover defence. Until today anti-takeover defence has reached a very sophisticated level and most companies have erected formidable defences to counter aggressive corporate raiders. With her book Jeanette Gorzala provides a global perspective on hostile take-over defence during the latest merger wave. The focus lies on firstly determining the most common anti-takeover defence strategies and then in a second step evaluating their effectiveness to ward off corporate raiders. For this purpose the underlying concepts of the formal theory are presented in order to serve as a fundamental basis for an empirical study. In order to underline the theory with empirical evidence a sample of 335 hostile takeover bids launched in the timeframe from January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2008 has been analyzed. The key findings of the study are presented along two vital research questions reflecting the purpose of this book.

Takeover Defense, Mergers and Acquisitions is the must-have resource for attorneys representing any target--or potential target--of takeover activities. This one-of-a-kind reference provides: In-depth analysis of all significant laws, rules, cases, issues and tactics State-of-the-art practical guidance, including valuable forms and exhibits A truly unique focus on the concerns of public companies facing challenges by activists, hostile bids, or those planning strategic mergers and acquisitions Expanded full treatment of merger and sale transactions Takeover Defense, Mergers and Acquisitions, the re-titled Seventh Edition of Takeover Defense is the only treatise on corporate acquisitions written specifically from the viewpoint of the target corporation. And the new change of title reflects the expanded full treatment of merger and sale transactions --whether or not triggered by a hostile takeover bid. Providing authoritative guidance on every aspect of planning for an M&A transaction, or defending against, and seeking alternatives to a hostile takeover, this resource stands out as the most comprehensive and up-to-date guide currently available. If you don't have the answers to these crucial questions--you might have trouble: In the brave new world of government bail-outs, what are the rules for executive compensation and how should boards react? What is the new paradigm for acquisition agreements to address financing difficulties? How are reverse breakup fees, damage parameters and financing outs used and drafted? How has an SEC rule change caused a resurgence of tender offers? What is new in tender offer rules and tactics, including the use of top-up options? How should management and boards deal with the proxy advisory firms and institutional investors? How have shark repellents been attacked and dismantled by activists? What are the consequences and what are the board's options? Can the board resort to self-help in adopting by-law changes without a shareholder vote? What type of advance notice by-law should the company have? Proxy contests, both traditional and "short-slate" campaigns, have become much more frequent--how should boards prepare and respond? What is the effect of having a "majority voting" standard and how should it be defined? What will be the effect of proxy access and elimination of broker discretionary voting? What are the current rules defining the fiduciary duties of directors in considering unsolicited bids or strategic mergers and what courses of action are available to the board? What are the permissible techniques for selling a company? When do "go-shops" make sense? Can a buyer "lock-up" a deal with a control shareholder? How do antitrust considerations affect the board's options and strategy? What is the state of the art in poison pills? What is the utility and appropriateness of adopting an NOL (net-operating loss) poison pill?

Excerpt from An Overview of Takeover Defenses In summary, takeover resistance motivated by first rationale of hidden values and the second rationale of inducing an auction can benefit target shareholders. However, the managers' natural bias is likely to result in opposition to some takeovers that would benefit target shareholders. The third reason for takeover defenses, managerial self-interest, benefits the stockholders only if resistance happens by chance to be the appropriate action for one of the first two reasons. These three reasons for takeover defenses are not mutually exclusive combinations of the three are often present in defense strategies. For example, managers may use takeover defenses because they prefer friendly, negotiated transactions. This combines elements of the three reasons for takeover defenses. Negotiated acquisitions enable the target managers to share ideas and information with the bidding firm. Consistent with the first and second reasons, this may increase the offer price. It also increases the chances of retaining the target's management team, which is consistent with the third reason. Finally, a negotiated transaction is generally more civilized: to the managers that is like an increase in compensation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Financial analyst Caroline Cassandra "CC" Williams is determined to prove her worth to her corporate masters by discovering why a mining venture on an asteroid isn't profitable.

The takeover boom that began in the mid-1980s has exhibited many phenomena not previously observed, such as hostile takeovers and takeover defenses, a widespread use of cash as a means of payment for targeted firms, and the acquisitions of companies ranking among the largest in the country. With the aim of more fully understanding the implications of such occurances, contributors to this volume consider a broad range of issues as they analyze mergers and acquisitions and study the takeoveer process itself.

#1 New York Times bestseller and arguably the best business narrative ever written, Barbarians at the Gate is the classic account of the fall of RJR Nabisco at the hands of a buyout from investment firm KKR. A book that stormed both the bestseller list and the public imagination, a book that created a genre of its own, and a book that gets at the heart of Wall Street and the '80s culture it helped define, Barbarians at the Gate is a modern classic—a masterpiece of investigatory journalism and a rollicking book of corporate derring-do and financial swordsmanship. The fight to control RJR Nabisco during October and November of 1988 was more than just the largest takeover in Wall Street history. Marked by brazen displays of ego not seen in American business for decades, it became the high point of a new gilded age and its repercussions are still being felt. The tale remains the ultimate story of greed and glory—a story and a cast of characters that determined the course of global business and redefined how deals would be done and fortunes made in the decades to come. Barbarians at the Gate is the gripping account of these two frenzied months, of deal makers and publicity flaks, of an old-line industrial powerhouse (home of such familiar products a Oreos and Camels) that became the victim of the ruthless and rapacious style of finance in the 1980s. As reporters for The Wall Street Journal, Burrough and Helyar had extensive access to all the characters in this drama. They take the reader behind the scenes at strategy meetings and society dinners, into boardrooms and bedrooms, providing an unprecedentedly detailed look at how financial operations at the highest levels are conducted but also a richly textured social history of wealth at the twilight of the Reagan era. At the center of the huge power struggle is RJR Nabisco's president, the high-living Ross Johnson. It's his secret plan to buy out the company that sets the frenzy in motion, attracting the country's leading takeover players: Henry Kravis, the legendary leveraged-buyout king of investment firm KKR, whose entry into the fray sets off an acquisitive commotion; Peter Cohen, CEO of Shearson Lehman Hutton and Johnson's partner, who needs a victory to propel his company to an unchallenged leadership in the lucrative mergers and acquisitions field; the fiercely independent Ted Forstmann, motivated as much by honor as by his rage at the corruption he sees taking over the business he cherishes; Jim Maher and his ragtag team, struggling to regain credibility for the decimated ranks at First Boston; and an army of desperate bankers, lawyers, and accountants, all drawn inexorably to the greatest prize of their careers—and one of the greatest prizes in the history of American business. Written with the bravado of a novel and researched with the diligence of a sweeping cultural history, Barbarians at the Gate is present at the front line of every battle of the campaign. Here is the unforgettable story of that takeover in all its brutality. In a new afterword specially commissioned for the story's 20th anniversary, Burrough and Helyar return to visit the heroes and villains of this epic story, tracing the fallout of the deal, charting the subsequent success and failure of those involved, and addressing the incredible impact this story—and the book itself—made on the world.