Saturday, November 8, 2008

An Insider's Guide to Deal Making

I've been immersed in M&A for much of 2008 - not making deals, but helping edit two books about them. One of them has been released, and thanks to the economics of e-books and the beneficence of Booz & Company and strategy+business, you can download it for free!


The CFO as Deal Maker: Thought Leaders on M&A Success is a unique collection of interviews with 15 CFOs of major companies in diverse industries. These are M&A insiders who been involved in some of the biggest deals in recent years: Jose Antonio Alvarez, who helped Spain's Banco Santander grab a piece of the $98.5 billion acquisition of ABN Amro; Mutlaq H. Al-Morished, who engineered Saudi Basic Industries' $11.6 billion acquisition of GE's plastics division; and, Aditya Mittal, who managed Mittal Steel's $38 billion acquisition of Arcelor. Add in the interviews with the CFOs at Johnson & Johnson, Telefonica, E.ON, Henkel, BASF, etc., and you've got an M&A dream team.

These interviews are impressive not just for the credibility and experience of the subjects, but also for their content. Each subject was interviewed by a team composed of Booz & Company M&A experts and a professional journalist. The result is a set of very tight and pithy interviews that are filled with practical, actionable ideas. Admittedly, having been involved with the project, I'm prejudiced, but it won't cost you anything to see if I'm just blowing smoke.

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