Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. This could happen through direct absorption, a merger, a tender offer or a hostile takeover. As an aspect of strategic management, M&A can allow enterprises to grow or downsize, and change the nature of their business or competitive position.
Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products. It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit."
Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public. In the field of finance, private equity is offered instead to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the companies. In casual usage, "private equity" can refer to these investment firms, rather than the companies in which that they invest.
A mutual fund is an investment fund that pools money from many investors to purchase securities. The term is typically used in the United States, Canada, and India, while similar structures across the globe include the SICAV in Europe, and the open-ended investment company (OEIC) in the UK.
A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public company can be listed on a stock exchange, which facilitates the trade of shares, or not. In some jurisdictions, public companies over a certain size must be listed on an exchange. In most cases, public companies are private enterprises in the private sector, and "public" emphasizes their reporting and trading on the public markets.
An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of property. Types of investments include equity, debt, securities, real estate, infrastructure, currency, commodity, token, derivatives such as put and call options, futures, forwards, etc. This definition makes no distinction between the investors in the primary and secondary markets. That is, someone who provides a business with capital and someone who buys a stock are both investors. An investor who owns stock is a shareholder.
Shareholder activism is a form of activism in which shareholders use equity stakes in a corporation to put pressure on its management. A fairly small stake may be enough to launch a successful campaign. In comparison, a full takeover bid is a much more costly and difficult undertaking. The goals of shareholder activism range from financial to non-financial. Shareholder activists can address self-dealing by corporate insiders, although large stockholders can also engage in self-dealing to themselves at the expense of smaller minority shareholders.
Shareholder value is a business term, sometimes phrased as shareholder value maximization. The term expresses the idea that the primary goal for a business is to increase the wealth of its shareholders (owners) by paying dividends and/or causing the company's stock price to increase. It became a prominent idea during the 1980s and 1990s, along with the management principle value-based management or managing for value.
A special-purpose acquisition company, also known as a "blank check company", is a shell corporation listed on a stock exchange with the purpose of acquiring a private company, thus making the private company public without going through the initial public offering process, which often carries significant procedural and regulatory burdens. According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), SPACs are created specifically to pool funds to finance a future merger or acquisition opportunity within a set timeframe; these opportunities usually have yet to be identified while raising funds.
Socially responsible investing (SRI) is any investment strategy which seeks to consider financial return alongside ethical, social or environmental goals. The areas of concern recognized by SRI practitioners are often linked to environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics. Impact investing can be considered a subset of SRI that is generally more proactive and focused on the conscious creation of social or environmental impact through investment. Eco-investing is SRI with a focus on environmentalism.
Yoshiaki Murakami is a Japanese investor, bull, former bureaucrat of the MITI, co-founder of "Murakami Fund", and founder of the Murakami Family Foundation (村上財団).
A private equity firm or private equity company is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or an existing operating company to make a profit on its investments. This is done by the private equity firm raising funds to invest in private companies that have not been publicly listed.
Stocks consist of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporation in proportion to the total number of shares. This typically entitles the shareholder (stockholder) to that fraction of the company's earnings, proceeds from liquidation of assets, or voting power, often dividing these up in proportion to the number of like shares each stockholder owns. Not all stock is necessarily equal, as certain classes of stock may be issued, for example, without voting rights, with enhanced voting rights, or with a certain priority to receive profits or liquidation proceeds before or after other classes of shareholders.
Strategic block investing is a hybrid investment strategy generally used by fund managers who aim to play a constructive, active role in unlocking value from public companies through the implementation of financial, operational and governance initiatives from both minority and control positions. Strategic block investors tend to focus on publicly quoted companies but may also pursue more traditional private equity strategies.
Elliott Investment Management L.P. is an American investment management firm. It is also one of the largest activist funds in the world.
Charles T. "Chuck" Akre is an American investor, financier and businessman. He is on the board of directors of Enstar Group, Ltd., a Bermuda run-off reinsurance company. He is also the founder, chairman and chief investment officer of Akre Capital Management, FBR Focus, and other funds. Akre Capital Management is based in Middleburg, Virginia.
Dividend policy, in financial management and corporate finance, is concerned with the policies regarding dividends; more specifically paying a cash dividend in the present, as opposed to, presumably, paying an increased dividend at a later stage. Practical and theoretical considerations will inform this thinking.
Ralph Victor Whitworth was an American businessman who was a founder of Relational Investors LLC, a private investment management firm based in San Diego, California, which primarily seeks out value stocks at companies deemed to be underperforming due to poor capital allocation discipline and corporate governance. Whitworth co-founded Relational with David Batchelder in 1996; the firm manages approximately $6 billion, and Whitworth was a principal and member of the Investment Committee.
Corporate finance is the area of finance that deals with the sources of funding, and the capital structure of businesses, the actions that managers take to increase the value of the firm to the shareholders, and the tools and analysis used to allocate financial resources. The primary goal of corporate finance is to maximize or increase shareholder value.
Edward John Michael Bramson is the chief executive officer and principal at Sherborne & Company Incorporated, described as an "activist investor" and "corporate raider". Bramson launched his first private equity firm, Hillside Capital, in New York in 1977, and launched Sherborne Investors as a "turnaround investment firm" in 2003.
San Diego California