Dr. P.V. Viswanath

pviswanath@pace.edu

FIN 648: Mergers and Acquisitions Spring 2006

21239: Mondays 5:30 to 8:15 p.m. at the New York campus, Rm W514
Email: pviswanath@pace.edu Tel: (212) 618-6518
Webpage: http://www.pviswanath.com
Blackboard: http://blackboard.pace.edu

Course Objectives

The primary objective of this course is to provide the student with the theoretical background and analytical tools necessary to evaluate different kinds of mergers. To a limited extent, we will also look at the social and regulatory background for mergers.

Course Text

Required Text: Applied Mergers University Edition with Student Workbook and Student Survey Set, Robert Bruner, Wiley Publications, 2004.
You can also buy these from Amazon; for the text, itself, ($59.85) click here for the Amazon link and for the workbook ($26.37), click here.

Recommended: Patrick A. Gaughan, "Mergers: What can go wrong and how to prevent it," Wiley Publishers, 2005.

The following books are on reserve in the library:

• Applied mergers and acquisitions by Robert F. Bruner
• Big deal : the battle for control of America's leading corporations by Bruce Wasserstein
• Corporate finance : theory and practice by Aswath Damodaran
• Takeovers, restructuring, and corporate governance by J. Fred Weston, Mark L. Mitchell, and J. Harold Mulherin
• Valuation : measuring and managing the value of companies by Tom Copeland, Tim Koller and Jack Murrin

Computer Use and E-mail Policy:

You should obtain a Pace e-mail address as soon as possible, so that I can send you e-mail. Any student's Pace e-mail address can be obtained by going to the Contact Pace section of the main Pace Home Page (the default password is the student’s Pace Identification Number).  More information about e-mail address, etc. can be obtained from the DoIT website.  Even if you have another e-mail address where you wish to get your e-mail, you should still get a Pace e-mail address.  Once you have your Pace e-mail account and password, you can go to the Pace University Student E-Mail Server at http://stmail.pace.edu and have your e-mail forwarded to your preferred e-mail address.  You can find information on how to have your mail automatically forwarded at http://www.pace.edu/DoIT/forward/.  The only way that I can communicate with you is through your Pace e-mail account.  Hence, it behooves you to get your Pace account information as soon as possible.

Check your e-mail and the FIN 648 website on a regular basis.  This will enable you to get the maximum from the course. I am available for consultation by e-mail at pviswanath@pace.edu. I check my e-mail practically every day, and, in most cases, you should get a speedy response to any questions.  

We will also be using Blackboard as a gateway for some aspects of the course.  Please log in to Blackboard at the earliest opportunity.    Blackboard login procedures can be found on the appropriate Blackboard site.  Essentially, your login ID for Blackboard will be your email ID, and your password will be your 9-digit social security number (for more details, go to the Blackboard site).  

Course Requirements

Class Attendance and Participation

Class attendance is mandatory and is highly recommended.  This is for two reasons: one, I believe that you will understand the material much better if you attend the class sessions; two, modifications to the class schedule will be announced in class and/or on the BlackBoard website.  Also, on occasion, I conduct classroom exercises, give short quizzes, or assign additional work. If you miss a class session during which we have such a classroom exercise, or additional work is assigned, your grade will be adversely affected for this reason as well.  (Of course, it goes without saying that missing quizzes will affect your grade adversely.)  In any case, you should consult fellow students on what was done during the class time that you missed, and collect handouts for that day's session. You should also bring a calculator to all class meetings.

I also require that you read the Wall Street Journal and/or the business section of the New York Times on a regular basis. Some exam questions will be based on current newspaper and magazine articles that are related to course material. Hence you should cultivate and improve your ability to read newspaper articles critically.  I will assume that all students have online access to the Wall Street Journal.

There are two other reasons why you should try to attend as regularly as possible. One, classroom participation will help your grade. By participation, I mean answering questions and making intelligent comments. Two, we will sometime do learning exercises in class; doing them can help you substantially in understanding the material.  I often also give credit for participation in these classroom exercises.

Assignments and Working with Teams

Assignments are a critical part of the course.  The main purpose of these assignments is to make sure that you understand the material, and to prepare you for the exams.  Details regarding assignments will be provided during the course; check Blackboard on a regular basis, as well. All assignments should be turned in, typed, as far as possible (i.e. mathematical formulas, etc. may be written in by hand, if necessary). Details of the assignments can be found on the Class Assignments Page.

There will be three assignments, all associated with the same merger. Students will work in groups consisting of four or five individuals; they will write up their reports, and will also be required to present their analysis.

Academic Integrity and Library Resources

Any student taking this course is presumed to agree to abide by the statement on academic integrity, as described in the latest Graduate Catalog. You can get a copy of the Catalog from Lubin Undergraduate Academic Advisement. If you have any doubts as to what plagiarism is, please go to http://appserv.pace.edu/library/pages/apollo/. You will need to create a login name and password to begin. However, this resource is very useful, not only to understand what plagiarism is, and how to avoid it, but also how to use library resources.

Disability Policy

If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an academic accommodation, you must register with the Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities. You can contact the coordinator at 212-346-1526 in New York and 914-773-3710 in Westchester.

Exams

There will be a midterm and a final exam. Exams are closed book, but I will allow you to bring in one 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper containing only formulas -- nothing else (two sides). More details on the nature of the exams can be found on the FAQ page.  If you miss an exam without being excused, I cannot give you any credit for that exam.  University policy allows make-ups only for serious personal illness or death in the family, for which documentation may be required.  You can look at past exams and solutions on my website; however, I have not taught FIN 648 in previous terms, so you can only see examples of the style of my exams. Please bring your own calculators to the exams; PDAs, however, are not allowed.  Get in touch with me regarding any question you may have regarding the exams, or the course in general.

Short Quizzes

I may give one quiz during the term. I will announce it ahead of time. (Chances of this are low given the paucity of time; however, sometimes this is indicated given the circumstances.)

Study Aids

Media Articles

On my webpages, you will find recent media articles.  From time to time, I will add to this list.  There are several reasons why you should look regularly at these pages.  

• I will be posting interesting and recent articles to this page.  As such, it will be a useful way for you to keep abreast of topical issues (in addition to your regular perusal of the Wall Street Journal.)
• I will pose questions on the subject matter of several of the articles.  These questions will be good preparation for the media article based questions on the exams.
• You can draw on the articles for classroom discussions.
• These articles and the appended questions are useful preparation for job interviews.
• Some of these articles may be required reading, to be followed up by Blackboard postings.

The password, necessary to access the Media Articles section will be announced in class, and can also be found at the Blackboard website, under Course Information. In case of emergency, you can contact me for the password.

Grades

Note that the minimum and maximum quantitative scores for plus and minus refinements to the letter grades will be at my discretion. These will be partly determined by the distribution of student scores within each letter grade category.   I place a high value on effort; at my discretion, I will raise your grade one notch if I feel that you have tried hard to satisfy all the requirements of the course.

Prerequisites:

BUS 512 (Minimum Grade of C) or MBA 632 (Minimum Grade of C).

Data Cards

On the index card handed out in class, please fill in the information requested below.  Make sure to number the item that you are responding to.

1. Name
2. Home and Work Phone number; Fax number, if any
3. Email address, other than at pace.edu (for my convenience).  (Note that I will send you email only to your Pace email address)
4. Functional expertise/interest in business administration (e.g. accounting, finance, personnel administration)
5. Work experience, if any (provide particulars of what your duties were)
6. Previous knowledge of finance (if any)
7. Interests outside of business management (such as languages, music, etc.)
8. What spreadsheet program do you know? Where did you learn it, and when?
9. Have you taken FIN 647? If so, when?