4 Best Books for Those Interested In Mergers and Acquisitions

While it is no secret that Investment Banking has forever been, one of the most alluring fields, especially with the sophistication and grace that stock exchange and the Wall Street have both gathered, in the recent few years. This is the reason why you’d find almost everyone quoting some of the other famous investment related movie. Investment banking as a field branches out to various sub fields, which include corporate finance, wealth management and  to name a few. Of these, mergers and acquisitions have gone on to become one of the most sought-after fields, in terms of career choices. A lot of M&A aspirants are more often than not, on the lookout for getting thoroughly trained so as to master this amazing field. This is why a lot of candidates. Imarticus Learning, which offers excellent industry endorsed, specialization programs on subjects like Corporate Finance, M&A and so on.

While getting professionally trained is extremely important, when it comes to pursuing a career in M&A, it is equally important supplement your knowledge with the help of books. Here’s a list of some of the best books about M&A, which would serve novices as well as professionals, very perfectly.

1. Mergers and Acquisition for Dummies, Bill Snow

This book is like the complete guide of basics, about everything that you must know about the field of Mergers and Acquisition. The contents are such that they have resulted in easing the process of understanding of concepts of M&A for everyone. The writing, which takes on a very lucid manner, makes this book an indispensable guide for a beginner.

2. Mergers And Acquisitions From A To Z, Andrew J. Sherman

This makes the perfect book for anyone, who is looking to start up their own venture, or for any student looking to do some in-depth analysis. This book is the detailed answer to all questions like, whether to buy or to sell, when to buy or sell, how to value an asset or a firm. It basically gives the reader, almost every information possible about the entire process of M&A.

3. The Art Of M&A; Fourth Edition, Stanley Foster Reed, Alexandra Lajoux & H.Peter Nesvold

This book is good enough to be treated as a holy grail when it comes to M&A. This comprehensive book focuses on a number of topics like the process of finding a deal, valuation, finance, merger integration and so on. It not only talks about mergers and acquisitions in detail, but it also talks legal considerations, that one needs to abide by here.

4. Mergers, Acquisitions and Corporate Restructurings (Wiley Corporate F&A), Patrick A. Gaughan

This book is famous for discussing all the recent corporate restructuring case studies, at length, which definitely is the best take away from it. It is more like a narrative on the evolution of M&A, over the years, as well as about the various strategies, that are used by companies to boost their financial growth.

Top 6 Investment Banks In The World

Investment Banking basically refers to that stream of banking, which primarily focuses on capital financing for every type of organization out there. Then may it be a global or a local business, any private individual run firm as well as governments. This field is said to cater to a number of diversified financial requirements, like equity or debt, bonds, mergers and acquisitions, portfolio management and so on. This field is considered to be one of the most dignified and challenging fields to make a career out of. This is exactly the reason why so many finance aspirants have their heart, set on becoming an investment banking professional. To achieve their goal, many individuals try to get an edge for themselves by taking up various esteemed certification courses that are offered by the sterling institute, Imarticus Learning.
Every Investment Banker as well as any aspiring professional wishes to work in one of the top Investment Banks all over the world. While there are a number of criteria, which put an Investment Bank in the coveted big league. Various factors like the revenue numbers, global reach, employee headcount, income etc prove to be most decisive when it comes to determining whether a bank fits in as one of the Top Investment Banks.Investment Banking Banner
Here’s a list of the top 6 full-service investment banks on a global scale.

1. Goldman Sachs 

Apart from being one of the oldest banking firms, founded in 1869, this prestigious bank, offers a wide range of services, which are spread across four divisions, which include investment banking, institutional client services, investing and investment management. It also has a reported revenue of around $34.210 billion, which probably could be more today.

2. JP Morgan Chase  

It is said to be one of the largest, investment banks and has reported net revenues, up to around $96,606 million. This organization has branches in around 60 countries and has about 260,000 employees working under them, offering a varied set of services.

3. Barclays

This UK based bank was founded in around 1896 in London and has recorded earnings, of around 28,444 million Euros. This banking organization has a strong presence in retail and commercial banking, in addition to being a key player in the field of investment banking.

4. Bank Of America Merrill Lynch 

This entity recently took over the erstwhile Merrill Lynch, following the economic crisis in America. It offers a wide array of services which include, investment banking, mortgage, trading, brokerage as well as card services.

5. Morgan Stanley

Since its inception in the year 1935, this global firm has employed about 55,794 employees, spread across multiple countries. Apart from offering the usual services,
it is also known to offer diversified services like prime brokerage, custodian, settlement and clearing and so on.

6. Deutsche Bank   

This erstwhile organization has reported revenue of around, EUR 31,915 million and is also known to be one of the largest financial services firms in Europe. This bank is very well known for its global presence and ongoing operations in around 71 countries as well as its omnipresence on the international trade and finance market.

Also Read: How Do Investment Banks Operate

How Has Demonetization Impacted The Indian Economy?

India as a country, experienced a most staggering change in its economic history in the month of November, 2016. The Prime Minister of India, nullified two of the highest denomination currency notes of Rs.500 and Rs. 1000. The decision came like a surprise as the entire country came to staggering halt, trying to cope up with this decision. What later ensued was a great amount of chaos mainly because of the grave dis-balance, the economy of India was left in. By doing away with these two notes, the government of India withdrew, almost 86% of the currency value that was being circulated in the economy. This was done without replacing the bulk, that was withdrawn and it resulted in a huge gap in terms of the value of currency, because after INR 100 notes, the next currency note available was INR 2000.
While the government and the banks tried to ease the situation, they was very less that they could do. Even today, when a considerable amount of time has elapsed, since the decision, there is still some level of discontent in the society. With very few ATMs recalibrated and the fact that, the new 2000 rupee note with slim utility, the Indian economy and finance are bound to be affected. Demonetization is basically a step taken to give the economy, a liquidity shock. While the very time and method of it ended up highlight more downsides, than it was supposed to. The process was definitely not as big a shock as the banking sector disaster of the year, 2007, but it nonetheless affected the economic activities, in the most grave way possible.
500 and 1000 rs notes
The term liquidity crunch or liquidity shock, basically refers to the fact, that people would not be able to make use of a currency of a certain denomination, in this regard the 500 rupee note, which was regularly used in the daily transactions previously. It ought to be highlighted that, this bold move was taken in order to do away with all of the counterfeit currency rackets, which in turn resulted into supporting terrorism and related activities. While the Indian society will be impacted in a lot of ways in terms of finance, with the economic growth of the country, being highly affected. Apart from that various other negative impacts include, the welfare loss of all those sections of the society, that solely depended on liquid cash. There are quite a few chances that the entire economy will feel a lull, in terms of the momentum and the purchasing power of the consumers.Investment Banking Banner
Although it may seem that the banks would benefit, more than any other sector, it may be so but only in the short term. The many old notes that are being deposited in the banks, in order to get new notes, will be doing absolutely nothing in terms of their cash reserve ratio. The banks would only benefit when people would start depositing, the new notes, which would result in improvement of their cash reserve ratio. While it is yet to be seen, how the sector of investment banking is affected, it seems that these and the corporate finance professionals, would be sought after quite a lot in terms of gaining advice with how to put the new money, to proper use.

Why A Career In Investment Banking Would Be The Best Decision For You?

A lot of graduates today, decide to pursue higher studies, so as to ensure that they are able to get into the career of their choice. This is the age where just having a generalized degree, does not seemingly cut it.

This has given birth to a whole new aspect of specialization in the society, only those who have specific additional degrees, get the opportunity to kick start their career well. As specialization study, becomes the popular choice there are an array of courses to choose from. The same applies to the field of finance.

Investment Banking has increasingly become a popular career choice and there are a number of esteemed institutions, Imarticus Learning, offer courses in various branches of finance and ensure that your career choice, is the best decision that you would make.

We at Imarticus learning as an institute are instrumental in ensuring that candidates get a slight edge over the other qualified professionals in the field of Investment Banking.

Investment Banking is known to be a very prestigious, competitive field, where the number of qualified candidates, greatly exceeds the job openings. This is the reason why taking up a specialization course makes more sense, because that way you get trained according to the industry standards, thus ensuring that you get the perfect kind of start in this landscape.

Once you have narrowed down on a career and begun your journey towards its, there are a lot of indicators that prove it as the best decision. First of these indicators, would be the fact that you actually possess the perfect combination of academic as well as industry skills. Imarticus Learning ensure, that you develop certain skills, to supplement your academic knowledge, which would serve you at various junctures in your career.

Apart from having the right skill set, various other indicators like having the right kind of connections and contacts, being goal oriented, driven and extremely dedicated towards your work, willing to work a more than 100 hour week and closing high value deals, all of these ensure your entry into the very fabled world of investment banking.
career Cibop
This is one of those careers where if you posses the right kind of skills, nothing can stop you from being on top of your game, all the time. It is a field which not only pushes your limits, but also rewards you very generously. Especially when it comes to salary packages, Investment Banking professionals get the best signing bonuses, hikes and other monetary luxuries, as compared to their peers.

Professionals here argue that it was their best decision, because their time literally is worth every single paisa that they earn. From working long hours, to having mind numbing deadlines, anything and everything seems fine here, mainly because of the sterling rewards that an Investment Banker receives.

It is common knowledge that Investment Bankers, usually make much more than their peers and also receive greater recognition for their hard-work. While some of the professionals here are pure geniuses, others are able to achieve the same through perseverance and the help of esteemed, Imarticus Learning, help ensure they are thoroughly ready to achieve their dreams.

Investment Banking Operations: The Engine of Growth

Think Investment Banker, think Gordon Gekko? Well there is no denying the glamour quotient is higher for high rollers who trade and make deals worth millions of dollars. But Gordon Gekko and his ilk would never be as successful or efficient if he didn’t have a trusty Operations team in the Back Office, managing transactions, ensuring processes are followed and well, just getting things done.
The Operations division of an investment bank or investment management firm is commonly referred to as the Back Office in I-Banking jargon. This is also the ‘engine room’ of an investment bank, working tirelessly to keep the vast quantities of information, money and products flowing correctly, to ensure millions of transactions are processed every day.

Playing a Hidden But Critical Function

Banking operations make sure banks’ processes and transactions are executed correctly, which minimizes risk and maximizes quality of service. The operations function also acts as a watchdog for the bank and oversees the regulatory requirements of the banks. Although this is a non-revenue generating function, this function is highly critical to the profitable functioning of a bank. Stream-lined banking operations can save billions of dollars to a bank. The more efficient a bank is at conducting its day-to-day business, the greater the percentage of revenues that will feed into the bottom line.

Starting Out? What to Expect

Firstly know that there is a HUGE variety of roles within the Operations team, and you will never have to do it all. Owing to the specialized knowledge one requires for these tasks, Operations roles usually focus on a particular function, for instance clearing or settling transactions, managing documentation, customer servicing, compliance, accounting and risk management. For example, you could be responsible for working on initiatives to enhance settlement processes, or ensuring that the information in an organisation’s P&L accounts is accurate or that risks are being reported accurately.
Most new entrants into an Ops role will have the opportunity to work in several different areas of Operations. This will allow you to gain an overview of the various types of work available, eg process-driven or project management roles.

Interested in pursuing a career in Investment Banking Operations? Imarticus Learning offers a comprehensive Investment Banking Operations certification (CIBOP) which offers a power-packed 180 hours of hands-on learning into the inner workings of an Investment Bank. Sign up today!