This course examines the activity of Mergers & Acquisitions (M&As) highlighting the importance of these corporate actions for the firms involved. The course aims to provide a comprehensive approach of M&As exhibiting issues of efficiency in terms of stock returns and accounting profits, corporate strategy, strategies of bidders and targets, corporate governance, valuation techniques, dilution of earnings in equity offers, as well as other issues of accounting and regulatory nature. The main objective of the course is to make the students understand the main concepts in the M&As literature, to present and discuss the main findings regarding the economic implications of M&As and to provide the knowledge of the basic principles and methods of companies valuation.

The students are encouraged to undertake term projects on various aspects of the course such as the valuation of a firm, or the examination of the efficiency of takeovers.