• Students will gather an overview of nowadays M&A processes and critical milestones
• They will understand in detail how corporate strategy, portfolio management and M&Ainteract
• They are sensitive to understand the difference between price and value and are familiarwith the different valuation techniques as well as with their limitations
• Selected corporate lectures and cases of Blue Chip M&A practitioners (like InvestmentBanks, Big 4, leading international corporations will supplement the lectures)

In rapidly evolving markets and industries with patterns of digital disruption, business model innovation, and global value chains, robust strategies are paramount to increasing shareholder value and propelling growth. Business strategies have to be sensitive to their specific ecosystem and therefore should be tailor-made. Mergers & Acquisitions (M&As) are, among other strate-gies, a particular approach to leverage growth and value by redesigning corporate portfolios and/or by creating a competitive advantage at business unit level. The course will be structured around my new forthcoming M&A book An digitalized End-to-End M&A Process Design - M&A in the 20s: The challenges and levers of digitalization and business model innovation and the structural layout of the Harvard summer school lectures on M&A in the 21st century. The course will discuss all aspects of international M&As, JVs and other forms of cooperation in the global financial markets. We will use the End-to-End M&A Process Design with the unique 5 pillars:
• Embedded M&A Strategy: Corporate and M&A strategy, Business and Culture Design
• M&A Transaction Management: Valuation, Due Diligence, PPA, acquisition financing
• Integration Management: Integration strategy, masterplan (IM), and transition mgt.
• Synergy Management
• Digital M&A Project Management and Governance

• Classroom sessions: We will have classical teaching lessons as well as case studies
• Discussions and interactive learning are key targets
• Case Studies: Applying the learned concepts and tools

• Feix, T. (2020). An End-to-End, digital M&A Process Design – M&A in the 20s: The challengesand levers of digitalization and business model innovation for M&A. Wiesbaden: Springer.
M&A Strategy:
• Gaughan, P. A.: “Maximizing Corporate Value through M&A”; Wiley; 2013.
Valuation:
• Koller, T., Goedhart, M.; Wessels, D.: “Valuation – measuring and managing the value ofcompanies”; Wiley; 6th edition, 2016.
• Damodaran, A.: “Damodaran on Valuation”; Wiley; 2nd edition; 2 006.
Due Diligence:
• Tseng, A.J.: “M&A Transactions: Financial Due Diligence”; 2013.
• Gole, W. J.; Hilger, P. J.: “Due Diligence: An M&A Value Creation Approach”; Wiley; 2009.
Post Merger Integration:
• Galpin, T.; Herndon, M.: “The complete guide to M&A”; Jossey-Bass (Wiley); 3rd edition; 2014
• David, D.: “M&A Integration: How to do it”; Wiley; 2013

4 ECTS x 30 hours = 120 hours,  combined out of the following:

• Course attendance: 15 weeks* 1.5 hours + Exam prep. lecture (7.5 h.) = 30 hours
• Preparation / homework / self-study : 15 weeks* 2 hours = 30 hours
• Time for exercises and group work: 15 weeks* 3 hours = 45 hours
• Exam preparation: 15 hours
• Exam time: 60 minutes
• Weighting in examination: Written Exam 100%