Takeovers, Restructuring, and Corporate Governance

Haven't seen a better book on restructuring and reorganizations. Having said that, i'd like to see a new edition soon.

A caveat; this is not a text. It assumes a level of competence on the subject and is an extremely good reference.


A waste of time   Oktober 18, 1999
The first part of this 1997 edition covers material that is an "old hat". The rest of the topics are unnecessary, badly explained, too superficial, or unfocused. Don't waste your money, and your time!


GOOD Overview!!!   Oktober 4, 1999
This textbook by Weston et al. provides an excellent overview of the various forms of M&A. However, having bought the previous edition, I was a bit disppointed with the extent of the revisions. For instance: in the chapter International M&A, which have undergone dramatic changes in the 8 years between the two editions, hardly any alterations have been made. This criticism also applies to a few other chapters. In summary though, had this book been updated in more detail, I would have given it five stars without hesitation!!


Broad coverage but lacks focus   Juni 25, 1999
Three cheers (stars) for Weston's attempt to cover a vast subject in less than 500 pages of manuscript. My criticism is precisely that: the book skims the surface of a multitude of issues, providing tremendous overview and perspective, but little focus on specific topics.

Rather than a narrative like many books on this subject, Weston uses the layout of a university text book. This has pluses and minuses. At best, it gives the reader an opportunity to see the range of issues in a single framework; at worst, one comes away with little discussion of specific topics. For example, what insight can be gained from a single page discussion of such diverse and complex issues as CAPM, Porter's Five Forces and financial restructuring?

Clearly this book is for the MBA student with background understanding or the practioner who wants to see the wide array of issues in perspective. Nonetheless, I do find this a superior reference book: there are case discussions of all the recent and significant deals (through 1998), both US and European. Here, Weston provides more insight than Wasserstein's "Big Deal" by giving academic perspective and context to many headline M&A deals.