Mergers and Acquisitions IB

13
Mergers, Acquisitions & Restructuring
Learning Objective
· After going through the chapter student shall be able to understand
· Reasons and Rationale for Mergers and Acquisitions
· Gains from Mergers or Synergy
· Accounting for Amalgamations- In brief
· Problems for M & A in India
· Mergers in specific sectors
· Acquisition and Takeover
· Takeover by Reverse Bid
· The Acquisition Process
· Defending a company in a takeover bid
· Legal Aspects of M & As
· Due Diligence
· Target Valuation for M & A
· Corporate Restructuring
· Financial Restructuring
· Merger Failures or Potential Adverse Competitive Effects
· Maximum Purchase Consideration
· Cross-Border M&A
· Decade of Corporate Churning and Change

1.0 Introduction
The most talked about subject of the day is Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A). In developed
economies, corporate Mergers and Acquisition are a regular feature. In Japan, the US and
Europe, hundreds of mergers and acquisition take place every year. In India, too, mergers and
acquisition have become a corporate game today. The year 2005 has been referred as the
year of mergers and acquisitions. In India, M & A deals in excess of $13 billion were struck in

© The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India

13.2 Strategic Financial Management

2005 as compared to $4.5 billion in 2004. In Asia, India stands next only to China in M & A
activity. There were 163 inbound acquisitions in India valued at $2.83 billion. There will be
more mergers and acquisition in the near future consequent upon the streamlining of the legal
framework.
The terms ‘mergers;, ‘acquisitions’ and ‘takeovers’ are often used interchangeably in common
parlance. However, there are differences. While merger means unification of two entities into
one, acquisition involves one entity buying out another and absorbing the same. In India, in
legal sense merger is known as ‘Amalgamation’.
The amalgamations can be by merger of companies within the provisions of the Companies
Act, and acquisition through takeovers. While takeovers are regulated by SEBI. M & A deals
fall under the Companies Act. In cross border transactions, international tax considerations
also arise.
Halsburry’s Laws Of England defined amalgamation as a blending of two or more existing
undertakings, the shareholders of each amalgamating company becoming substantially the
shareholders in the amalgamating company. Accordingly, in a merger, two or more
companies combine into a single unit.
The term “amalgamation” is used when two or more companies are amalgamated or where
one is merged with another or taken over by another. In Inland steam Navigation Workers
Union vs. R.S. Navigation Company Ltd. It was observed that in case of amalgamation, the
rights and liabilities of a company are amalgamated into another so that the transferee
company becomes vested with all rights and liabilities of the transferor company.
An acquisition is when both the acquiring and acquired companies are still left standing as
separate entities at the end of the transaction. A merger results in the legal dissolution of one
of the companies, and a consolidation dissolves both of the parties and creates a new one,
into which the previous entities are merged.
Corporate takeovers were started by Swaraj Paul when he tried to takeover Escorts. The other
major takeovers are that of Ashok Leyland by the Hindujas Shaw Wallace, Dunlop, and Falcon
Tyres by the Chabbria Group; Ceat Tyres by the Goenkas; and Consolidated Coffee by Tata
Tea. The BIFR arranged for the takeover of companies by giants like ITC, McDowells,
Lakshmi Machine Works, and the Somani Group.
Many new companies are being incorporated as a result of the fast growing industrialisation of
the country which is mainly dependent on agriculture. With the new trends of globalisation, not
only in this country but also worldwide, there has been increasing interaction of companies
and persons of one country with those of other countries. Today, corporate restructuring has
gained momentum and undertakings and companies are merging, demerging, divesting and
taking in or taking over companies and undertakings, both unregistered and registered, in
India and outside.
Against this corporate backdrop, mergers and acquisitions have to be encouraged in the
interest of the general public and for the promotion of industry and trade. At the same time the
government has to safeguard the interest of the people, the consumers and the investors on
the one hand and the shareholders, creditors and employees/workers on the other. In fact,


Mergers, Acquisitions & Restructuring 13.3

mergers and acquisitions may take place as a result of “reconstruction”, “compromise” or
“arrangement” as envisaged by Sections 391 to 394 of the Companies Act, 1956 or
“acquisition” under Section 395 or “amalgamation” under Section 396 of the Companies Act,
1956 and “reconstruction” of a sick industrial company as envisaged by Sections 17 and 18(4)
of the Sick Industries (Special Provisions) Act, 1985 or “revival” of financially unviable
companies as envisaged by Section 72A of the Income Tax Act, 1961. However, all such
mergers and acquisition have to be governed or controlled by the relevant provisions of the
Foreign Exchange Management Act, 2000; Income Tax Act, 1961; Industries (Development
and Regulation) Act, 1973; the restrictions imposed by other relevant Acts including SEBI Act,
1992 as the case may be.
According to AS-14, “Accounting for Amalgamation”, it means an amalgamation pursuant to
the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 or any other statute which may be applicable to
companies.
Amalgamation signifies the transfer of all or some part of the assets and liabilities of one or
more than one existing company to another existing company or of two or more existing
companies to a new company of which transferee company or all the members of the
transferor company or companies become, or have the right of becoming, members and
generally, such amalgamation is accomplished by a voluntary winding-up of the transferor
company or companies.
Under an amalgamation, merger or takeover, two (or more) companies are merged either
dejure by a consolidation of their undertakings or defacto by the acquisition of a controlling
interest in the share capital of one by the other or of the capital of both by a new company.
Amalgamation is a state of things under which either two companies are so joined to form a
third entity or one is absorbed into or blended with another.”
“Generally, where only one company is involved in a scheme and the rights of the
shareholders and creditors are varied, it amounts to reconstruction or reorganisation or
scheme of arrangement. In an amalgamation, two or more companies are fused into one by
merger or by one taking over the other. Amalgamation is a blending of two or more existing
undertakings into one undertaking, the shareholders of each blending company become
substantially the shareholders of the company which is to carry on the blended undertaking.
There may be amalgamation either by the transfer of two or more undertakings to a new
company, or by the transfer of one or more undertaking to an existing compnay. Strictly,
‘amalgamation’ does not cover the mere acquisition by a company of the share capital of the
other company which remains in existence and continues its undertaking but the context in
which the term is used may show that it is intended to include such an acquisition.”
A merger is generally understood to be a fusion of two companies. The term “merger” means
and signifies the dissolution of one or more companies or firms or proprietorships to form or
get absorbed into another company. By concept, merger increases the size of the
undertakings. The two companies which have merged are in the same industry, normally the
market share of the new consolidated company would be larger and it is possible that it may
move closer to being a monopoly or a near monopoly. This is known as horizontal merger.
On the other hand, vertical merger means the merger of two companies which are in different



field altogether, the coming together of two concerns may give rise to a situation similar to a
monopoly. But there is yet another type of merger known as reverse merger, where, in order
to avail benefit of carry forward of losses which are available according to tax law only to the
company which had incurred them, the profit making company is merged with companies
having accumulated losses.
Conglomerate Mergers: Such mergers involve firms engaged in unrelated type of business
operations. In other words, the business activities of acquirer and the target are not related to
each other horizontally (i.e., producing the same or competiting products) nor vertically
(Having relationship of buyer and supplier). In a pure conglomerate merger, there are no
important common factors between the companies in production, marketing, research and
development and technology. There may however be some degree of overlapping in one or
more of these common factors. Such mergers are in fact, unification of different kinds of
businesses under one flagship company. The purpose of merger remains utilization of
financial resources, enlarged debt capacity and also synergy of managerial functions.
Congeneric Merger: In these mergers, the acquirer and the target companies are related
through basic technologies, production processes or markets. The acquired company
represents an extension of product-line, market participants or technologies of the acquirer.
These mergers represent an outward movement by the acquirer from its current business
scenario to other related business activities.

2.0 Reasons and Rationale for Mergers and Acquisitions
The most common reasons for Mergers and Acquisition (M&A) are:
· Synergistic operating economics: Synergy May be defined as follows:
V (AB) > V(A) + V (B).
In other words the combined value of two firms or companies shall be more than their
individual value. This may be result of complimentary services economics of scale or
both.
A good example of complimentary activities can a company may have a good networking
of branches and other company may have efficient production system. Thus the merged
companies will be more efficient than individual companies.
On Similar lines, economics of large scale is also one of the reason for synergy benefits.
The main reason is that, the large scale production results in lower average cost of
production e.g. reduction in overhead costs on account of sharing of central services
such as accounting and finances, Office executives, top level management, legal, sales
promotion and advertisement etc.
These economics can be “real” arising out of reduction in factor input per unit of output,
whereas pecuniary economics are realized from paying lower prices for factor inputs to
bulk transactions.
· Diversification: In case of merger between two unrelated companies would lead to
reduction in business risk, which in turn will increase the market value consequent upon



the reduction in discount rate/ required rate of return. Normally, greater the combination
of statistically independent or negatively correlated income streams of merged
companies, these will be higher reduction in the business in comparison of companies
having income stream dependent cash stream.
· Taxation: The provision of set off and carry forward of losses as per Income Tax Aet
may be another strong season for the merger cud acquisition. Thus, there will be Tax
saving or reduction in tax liability of the mergered firm having substantial earning.
Similarly the case of acquisition the losses of the target company will be allowed to be
set off against the profits of the acquiring company.
· Growth: Merger and acquisition mode enable the firm to grow at a rate faster than other
mode e.G. capital budgeting, because the merged or acquiring company enters into the
market. Quickly, avoiding delays such attached with purchasing of building, site, setting
up of the plant and hiring personnel etc.
· Consolidation of Production Capacities and increasing market power: Due to
reduction in competition market power increases and also the production capacities are
increased by combined of two or more plants.The following table shows the key rationale
for some of the well known transactions which took place in India in the recent past.
Rationale for M & A
Instantaneous growth, Snuffing out · HLL-Lakme, Glaxo – Smithkline, Daimler –
competition, Increased market share. Chrysler.
Acquisition of a competence or a · ICICI – ITC classic (retailer net work &
capability depositor’s base), IBM- Daksh
Entry into new markets/product · Vodafone – Mannesman, Mannesman – Orange,
segments Tata - Tetley
Access to funds · TDPL – Sun Pharma since TDPL wanted to have
funds to launch new products.
Tax benefits · Ashok Leyland Information Technologies with
Hinduja Finance.
Amalgamation is effected basically for growth and sometimes for image. Some of the
objectives for which amalgamation may be resorted to are :
— Horizontal growth to achieve optimum size, to enlarge the market share, to curb
competition or to use unutilised capacity;
— Vertical combination with a view to economising costs and eliminating avoidable sales-
tax and/or excise duty;
— Diversification of business;
— Mobilising financial resources by utilising the idle funds lying with another company for
the expansion of business. (For example, nationalisation of banks provided this
opportunity and the erstwhile banking companies merged with industrial companies);



— Merger of an export, investment or trading company with an industrial company or vice
versa with a view to increasing cash flow;
— Merging subsidiary company with the holding company with a view to improving cash
flow;
— Taking over a ‘shell’ company which may have the necessary industrial licences etc., but
whose promoters do not wish to proceed with the project.
An amalgamation may also be resorted to for the purpose of nourishing a sick unit in the group
and this is normally a merger for keeping up the image of the group.

3.0 Gains from Mergers or Synergy
The first step in merger analysis is to identify the economic gains from the merger. There are
gains, if the combined entity is more than the sum of its parts.
That is, Combined value > (Value of acquirer + Stand alone value of target)
The difference between the combined value and the sum of the values of individual companies
is usually attributed to synergy.
Value of acquirer + Stand alone value of target + Value of synergy = Combined value
There is also a cost attached to an acquisition. The cost of acquisition is the price premium
paid over the market value plus other costs of integration. Therefore, the net gain is the value
of synergy minus premium paid.
VA = ` 100
VB = ` 50
VAB = ` 175
Synergy = VAB – (VA + VB) = 25
If premium is ` 10, Net gain = 25 – 10 = 15
The following depicts the synergy equation. Acquisition need not be made with synergy in
mind. It is possible to make money from non-synergistic acquisitions as well. As can be seen
from Exhibit, operating improvements are a big source of value creation. Better post-merger
integration could lead to abnormal returns even when the acquired company is in unrelated
business. Obviously, managerial talent is the single most important instrument in creating
value by cutting down costs, improving revenues and operating profit margin, cash flow
position, etc. Many a time, executive compensation is tied to the performance in the post-
merger period. Providing equity stake in the company induces executives to think and behave
like shareholders.



Exhibit : Merger gains

Transaction cost
Value of synergy

Stand alone Value Combined value

Value of acquirer

Source : Patricia L Anslinger and Thomas E Copeland, ‘Growth Through Acquisitions : A Fresh
Look’, Harvard Business Review, Jan–Feb., 1996.

There are five principal steps in a successful M & A programme.
1. Manage the pre-acquisition phase.
2. Screen candidates.
3. Eliminate those who do not meet the criteria and value the rest.
4. Negotiate.
5. Post-merger integration.
During the pre-acquisition phase, the acquirer should maintain secrecy about its intentions.
Otherwise, the resulting price increase due to rumours may kill the deal.
Scheme of Amalgamation or Merger
The scheme of any arrangement or proposal for a merger is the heart of the process and has
to be drafted with care.
There is no prescribed form for a scheme and it is designed to suit the terms and conditions
relevant to the proposal and should take care of any special feature peculiar to the
arrangement.
An essential component of a scheme is the provision for vesting all the assets and liabilities of
the transferor company in its transferee company. If the transferee company does not want to
take over any asset or liability, the transferor company before finalising the draft scheme
should dispose it off or settle. Otherwise, the scheme would be considered defective and
incomplete and the court would not sanction it.
It is equally important to define the effective date from which the scheme is intended to come
into operation. This would save time and labour in explaining to the court the intention behind
using several descriptions in the scheme. According to an order of the Central Government
under Section 396 of the Companies Act, the entire business and undertaking of a transferor
company shall be transferred to and vest with the transferee company on the day when it is



notified in the Official Gazette, for accounting purposes, the amalgamation shall be effected
with reference to the audited accounts and balance sheets as on a particular date (which
precedes the date of notification) of the two companies and the transactions thereafter shall
be pooled into a common account.
Another aspect relates to the valuation of shares to decide the exchange ratio. Objections
have been raised as to the method of valuation even in cases where the scheme had been
approved by a large majority of shareholders and the financial institutions as lenders. The
courts have declared their unwillingness to engage in a study of the fitness of the mode of
valuation. A High Court stated : “There are bound to be differences of opinion as to what the
correct value of the shares of the company is. Simply because it is possible to value the share
in a manner different from the one adopted in a given case, it cannot be said that the valuation
agreed upon has been unfair.” Similarly, in the case of Hindustan Lever the Supreme Court
held that it would not interfere with the valuation of shares when more than 99 per cent of the
shareholders have approved the scheme and the valuations having been perused by the
financial institutions.
The position of employees also has to be clearly set out. The employment contract is a
contract of personal service which may not be transferred by an order of court and may not
have an effect of making an employee of the transferor company as an employee of the
transferee company. The scheme should provide for the transfer of all employees to the
transferee company on the same terms and conditions of service without any break in service.
In the event of the transferee company not willing to absorb any of the employees through the
merger, the transferor company should settle those employees with applicable law before the
scheme is put through.

4.0 Accounting for Amalgamations
Accounting Standard 14 on Accounting For Amalgamations, isued by the Institute of Chartered
Accountants of India which came into effect in respect of accounting periods commencing on
or after April 1, 1995 is mandatory.
This statement deals with accounting for amalgamations and the treatment of any resultant
goodwill or reserves.
The Standard prescribes two methods of accounting for amalgamations namely (a) the pooling
of interest method and (b) the purchased method. The pooling of interest method is confined
to circumstances which meet the criteria referred to in the definition of the amalgamation in the
nature of merger. The object of the purchase method is to account for the amalgamation by
applying the same principle as are applied in the normal purchase of assets. This method is
used in accounting for amalgamations in the nature of purchase. Under the purchase method,
the transferee company account for the amalgamations either by incorporating the assets and
liabilities at their existing carrying amounts or by allocating the consideration to individual
identifiable assets and liabilities of the transferor company on the basis of their fair value at
the date of amalgamation.
The Standard prescribes that if, at the time of amalgamation, the transferor and the transferee



companies have conflicting accounting policies, a uniform accounting policy must be adopted
following the amalgamation. (Note: Students are advised to refer to As-14).

5.0 Problems for M & A in India
· Indian corporates are largely promoter-controlled and managed. The ownership stake
should, in the normal course, inhibit any rational judgement on this sensitive issue. It is
difficult for either of the two promoters to voluntarily relinquish management control in
favour of the other, as a merger between two companies implies. The other problems in
this respect may be like.
· In some cases, the need for prior negotiations and concurrence of financial institutions
and banks is an added rider, besides SEBI’s rules and regulations.
· The reluctance of financial institutions and banks to fund acquisitions directly.
· The BIFR route, although tedious, is preferred for obtaining financial concessions.
· Lack of Exit Policy for restructuring/downsizing.
· Absence of efficient capital market system makes the Market capitalisation not fair in
some cases.
· Valuation is still evolving in India.

6.0 Mergers in specific sectors
The Companies Act, 1956 and the SEBI’s Takeover Code are the general source of guidelines
governing merges. There are sector specific legislative provisions, which to a limited extent
empower the regulator to promote competition. For example, the Electricity Regulatory
Commission has been given powers under the Electricity Act, 2003 to promote competition.
Also in the telecom and broadcasting Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Regulate mergers in
these sectors and any dispute regarding the same is adjudicated by the Telecom Dispute
Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT). Guidelines for (intra-circle mergers intra-circle
mergers means mergers, of telecom service providers within the same geographical area or
zone of operation) are also formulated by the TRAI.
In addition to the above authorities, approval may also be required from other sector-specific
authorities. Mergers in the banking sector require approval from the RBI.

7.0 Acquisition and Takeover
Acquisition: This refers to the purchase of controlling interest by one company in the share
capital of an existing company. This may be by:
(i) an agreement with majority holder of Interest.
(ii) Purchase of new shares by private agreement.
(iii) Purchase of shares in open market (open offer)
(iv) Acquisition of share capital of a company by means of cash, issuance of shares.
(v) Making a buyout offer to general body of shareholders.



When a company is acquired by another company, the acquiring company has two choices
either to merge both the companies into one and function as a single entity and the another is
to operate the takenover company as an independent entity with changed management and
policies. The first choice is termed as ‘Merger’, whereas the second choice is known as
‘takeover’.
7.1 Acquisition or Takeover may be by way of,
(i) Acquisition of Companies shares.
(ii) Acquisition of business assets (ABOs).
(iii) Acquisition of Brand’s.
(iv) Acquisition of Companies by Friendly vs. Hostile takeover.
(v) Reverse acquisition

Exhibit : Value creation in acquisitions

Normal gain Industry gain Financial Operating Entity
Acquisition +NPV
from the over the leverage improvements Value
of subsequent market market
investment

Source: Patricia L Anslinger and Thomas E Copeland, “Growth through Acquisitions : A Fresh
look, Harvard Business Review Jan. – Feb -1996.
Acquisition of one of the business of a company, as a going concern by an agreement need
not necessarily be routed through court, if the transfer of business is to be accomplished
without allotting shares in the transferee company to the shareholders of the transferor
company. This would tantamount to a simple acquisition. In this case the transferor company
continue to exist and no change in shareholding is expected. If the sale takes place for a
lumpsum consideration without attributing any individual values to any class of assets, such
sales are called slump sales. The capital gains arising on slump sales were being exempt from
income tax based on a decision of the Supreme Court of India.
An acquisition by purchase of a controlling interest in the share capital of another existing
company is takeover, another term for acquisition. The two types of takeovers are:



· Friendly takeover. Takeover through negotiations and with willingness and consent of
the acquired company’s Board of directors.
· Hostile takeover. An acquirer company may not offer to target company the proposal to
acquire its undertaking but silently and unilaterally pursue efforts to gain control in it
against the wishes of the management.
7.2 Take Over Strategies : Other than tender offer the acquiring company can also use the
following techniques:
Street Sweep: this refers to the technique where the acquiring company accumulates larger
number of shares in a target before making an open offer. The advantage is that the target
company is left with no choice but to agree to the proposal of acquirer for takeover.
Bear Hug: When the acquirer threatens the target to make an open offer, the board of target
company agrees to a settlement with the acquirer for change of control.
Strategic Alliance: This involves disarming the acquirer by offering a partnership rather than
a buyout. The acquirer should assert control from within and takeover the target company.
Brand Power: This refers to entering into an alliance with powerful brands to displace the
target’s brands and as a result, buyout the weakened company.

8.0 Takeover by Reverse Bid
In ordinary case, the company taken over is the smaller company; in a 'reverse takeover', a
smaller company gains control of a larger one. The concept of takeover by reverse bid, or of
reverse merger, is thus not the usual case of amalgamation of a sick unit which is non-viable
with a healthy or prosperous unit but is a case whereby the entire undertaking of the healthy
and prosperous company is to be merged and vested in the sick company which is non-viable.
A company becomes a sick industrial company when there is erosion in its net worth. This
alternative is also known as taking over by reverse bid.
What tests should be fulfilled before an arrangement can be termed as a reverse takeover are
specified as follows:
"... transaction will be a reverse takeover if it fulfils any one of a number of tests; if
the value of the assets of Acquired Co. exceeds the value of the assets of Acquiring
Co.; if the net profits (after deducting all charges except taxation and excluding
extraordinary items) attributable to the assets of Acquired Co. exceeds those of
Acquiring Co.; if the aggregate value of the consideration being issued by Acquiring
Co. exceeds the value of the net assets of Acquired Co.; if the equity capital to be
issued by Acquiring Co. as consideration for the acquisition exceeds the amount of
the equity share capital of Acquiring Co. in issue prior to the acquisition; or if the
issue of shares in Acquiring Co. would result in a change in control of Acquiring Co.
through the introduction of a minority holder or group of holders." The transaction
shall be termed as takeover by Reverse Bid.
The three tests in a takeover by reverse bid that are required to be satisfied are, namely, (i)
the assets of the transferor company are greater than the transferee company, (ii) equity



capital to be issued by the transferee company pursuant to the acquisition exceeds its original
issued capital, and (iii) the change of control in the transferee company through the
introduciton of a minority holder or group of holders. In the case last cited, the transferee
company was a subsidiary of the transferor company, since as many as 4,303 equity shares
out of 5,600 equity shares issued by the transferee company were held by the transferor
company. In other words, approximately 77% of the equity shares issued by the transferee
company were held by the transferor company. Apart from this fact of large holding and
consequent stake in the financial working of the transferee company, there were other
important additional motives justifying the decision of takeover by reverse bid. For example,
that of the economies of scale, trade advantage in the nature of favourable effect on the
overall earnings resulting from the amalgamation which would reduce the cost of production
and stabilise the business by ensuring the supply of raw materials and the advantage of a
common sales organistion. Tax benefits which would have become available to the new unit
on amalgamation of the transferor company with the transferee company, which was a sick
unit in the sense that it has accumulated losses to the tune of ` 1,48,60,252 and unabsorbed
depreciation of about ` 1,46,00,000. The stake of transferor company in the transferee
company was another important motive, as the transferor company was a creditor of the
transferee company and its outstandings were in the vicinity of about 14% to 15% of the total
value of the liabilities. If, therefore, it was held, the transferor company had decided for a
scheme of amalgamation of the two companies, it could not be said that it had been done with
any ulterior purpose or with a view to secure some unfair advantages to its shareholders.

9.0 The Acquisition Process
The acquisition process involves the following five essential stages:
(i) Competitive analysis;
(ii) Search and screen.
(iii) Strategy development.
(iv) Financial evaluation.
(v) Negotiation.
The competitive stage is to identify synergistic inter-relationship between the buyer and the
targets business opportunities.
In search and screen stage a list of good acquisition candidates is developed. While the
screening process involves identifying a few of the best candidates that meet the established
criteria once best apparent candidates have been identified, more detailed analysis for each
will be initiated.
The strategy development calls for the development of a blue print for the exploitation of
apparent operational synergies.
The more an acquisition depends upon synergistic interrelationship, the greater is the need to
develop a post-merger integration blueprint beforehand.



Next there is financial evaluation stage of the acquisition process. The central issues
addressed in this stage include:
(i) What is the maximum price that should be for the target company?
(ii) What are the principal areas of Risk?
(iii) What are the cash flow and balance sheet implications of the acquisition? and
(iv) What is the best way of structuring the acquisition.
The fifth and last stage of the acquisition process is the negotiations stage. The success of
negotiations will depend to a large extent on the quality of the “homework” done in the first
four stages.

10.0 Defending a Company in a Takeover Bid
The speed with which a hostile takeover is attempted puts the target Company at a
disadvantage.
One of observations on the prevailing regulations pertaining to takeover is that, there is very
little scope for a target company to defend itself in a takeover battle. Due to the prevailing
guidelines, the target company without the approval of the shareholder cannot resort to any
issuance of fresh capital or sale of assets etc., and also due to the necessity of getting
approvals from various authorities. In the past most companies who wanted to resist a
takeover, did so, either by getting a White Knight to support the Company or by refusing to
transfer shares acquired by the Acquirer, followed by long protracted legal battle. Now under
the guidelines, the target company cannot refuse transfer of shares without the consent of
shareholders in a general meeting.
10.1 Defensive Tactics : A target company can adopt a number of tactics to defend itself
from hostile takeover through a tender offer.
· Divestiture In a divestiture the target company divests or spins off some of its businesses
in the form of an independent, subsidiary company. Thus, reducing the attractiveness of the
existing business to the acquirer.
· Crown jewels When a target company uses the tactic of divestiture it is said to sell the
crown jewels. In some countries such as the UK, such tactic is not allowed once the deal
becomes known and is unavoidable.
· Poison pill Sometimes an acquiring company itself becomes a target when it is bidding
for another company. The tactics used by the acquiring company to make itself unattractive to
a potential bidder is called poison pills. For instance, the acquiring company may issue
substantial amount of convertible debentures to its existing shareholders to be converted at a
future date when it faces a takeover threat. The task of the bidder would become difficult since
the number of shares to having voting control of the company increases substantially.
· Poison Put In this case the target company issue bonds that encourage holder to cash in
at higher prices. The resultant cash drainage would make the target unattractive.



· Greenmail Greenmail refers to an incentive offered by management of the target
company to the potential bidder for not pursuing the takeover. The management of the target
company may offer the acquirer for its shares a price higher than the market price.
· White knight In this a target company offers to be acquired by a friendly company to
escape from a hostile takeover. The possible motive for the management of the target
company to do so is not to lose the management of the company. The hostile acquirer may
change the management.
· White squire This strategy is essentially the same as white knight and involves sell out of
shares to a company that is not interested in the takeover. As a consequence, the
management of the target company retains its control over the company.
· Golden parachutes When a company offers hefty compensations to its managers if they
get ousted due to takeover, the company is said to offer golden parachutes. This reduces their
resistance to takeover.
· Pac-man defence This strategy aims at the target company making a counter bid for the
acquirer company. This would force the acquirer to defend itself and consequently may call off
its proposal for takeover.
It is needless to mention that hostile takeovers, as far as possible, should be avoided as they
are more difficult to consummate. In other words, friendly takeover are better course of action
to follow.

11.0 Legal Aspects of M & As
Merger control requirements in India are currently governed by the provisions of the
Companies Act, 1956 and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Substantial Acquisition
of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 1997. (“the takeover code”). The provisions of the
Takeover Code apply only to acquisition of shares in listed public companies. Although there
is no definition of amalgamation or mergers in the Indian Companies Act, it is understood to
mean an arrangement by which transfer of undertakings is effected. Sections 391 to 396 of the
Companies Act deals with such an arrangement. Other statues which governs merger
proposals are the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951; the Foreign Exchange
Management Act, 2000, the Income Tax Act, 1961 and the SEBI Act, 1992.

12.0 Due Diligence
In the past, various authors have emphasized the importance of due diligence in M&A. The
concept of due diligence has many dimensions such as:
Due diligence is research, its purpose in M&A is to support the valuation process,
arm negotiators, test the accuracy of representations and warranties contained in
the merger agreement, fulfill disclosure requirements to investors, and inform the
planners of post-merger integration. Due diligence is conducted in a wide variety of
corporate finance settings, and is usually connected with the performance of a
professional or fiduciary duty. It is the opposite of negligence.



Weaknesses in the due diligence process may cause an M&A to fail. In addition, buyers in
M&A may find “ignorance of knowledge risks to be a weak basis for a lawsuit seeking
damages from sellers”.
A due diligence process should focus at least on the following issues:
· Legal issues: These include examining documents of asset ownership and associated
liabilities; and whether the target company is in compliance with government regulations.
· Financial and tax issues: These include examining accounting records and reports to
determine whether the target companies are in compliance with generally accepted
accounting principles. In addition, the target company’s compliance with tax laws and
regulations should be examined.
· Marketing issues: These include strengths and weaknesses of products and services
provided by the target company and their domestic and foreign competition.
· Cross-border issues: These include foreign currency exchange risks, foreign laws and
regulations, investment promotional agency and investment incentives, foreign banking
and credit agencies, accounting principles, and local tax rules.
· Cultural and ethical issues: These cover cultural differences between the acquirer and
target companies and how to deal with these differences; the degree of compliance with
the acquirer’s ethical guidelines; and the exposure to liabilities and legal proceedings on
unethical conduct such as patent and copyright violations, price fixing and others.

13.0 Target Valuation for M & A
The value of a business is a function of the business logic driving the M&A and is based on
bargaining powers of buyers and sellers. Since business is based on expectations which are
dynamic, valuation also tends to be dynamic and not static which means that the same
transaction would be valued by the same players at different values at two different times.
Thorough due diligence has to be exercised in deciding the valuation parameters since these
parameters would differ from sector to sector and company to company.
Because of the Competitive nature of the acquisition market, companies not only need to
respond wisely but often must respond quickly as well. The growing independence of
corporate boards and their demand for better information to support strategic decisions such
as acquisitions have raised the general standard for acquisition analysis. Sound analysis,
convincingly, communicated also yields substantial benefits in negotiations with the target
company’s management or, in the case of tender offers, its shareholders.
After all, shareholders value creation depends not on pre-merger market valuation of the
target company but on the actual acquisition price the acquiring company pays compared with
the setting company’s cash flow contribution to the combined company. Only a limited supply
of acquisition, candidates is available at the price that enables the acquirer to earn an
acceptable economic return on investment. A well conceived valuation programme that
minimizes the risk of buying an economically unattractive company or paying too much for an
attractive one is particularly important in today’s market. The premium that must be paid by a



successful bidder case for a more careful analysis by buyer than ever before.
There are also social and cultural issues post merger. There are primarily related to work
culture, management style and human resources. Synergies fructify only when these issues
could be sorted out very early in the merger.
There are several techniques to value a business. We have studied valuation of stocks and
bonds. You understand terms like BVPS (book value per share), Price to book and P/E (price /
earnings per share). Now question arises how do you value a firm?
There are several techniques to value a business as shown below:

VALUATION

TECHNIQUE

Earning Market Asset

based Based Based

valuation Valuation Valuation

Discounted Cash to Capitalized Market Market Net Intangible Liquidati
Multiples of Adjusted on Value
cash create Earning Capitalization Asset
Comparables Asset Value
Flow/Free approach Method for Listed Valuation
Companies for or Economic
Cash Flow Companies
Unlisted Book ValLue

13.1 Earnings Based Valuation
13.1.1 Discounted Cash flow/Free cash flow
This discounted cash-flow being the most common technique takes into consideration the
future earnings of the business and hence the appropriate value depends on projected
revenues and costs in future, expected capital outflows, number of years of projection,
discounting rate and terminal value of business. This methodology is used to value companies
since firms are essentially collection of projects. There are six steps involved in the valuation



Step 1: Determine Free Cash Flow
Free cash flow is the cash flow available to all investors in the company — both shareholders and
bondholders after consideration for taxes, capital expenditure and working capital investment.
Free cash flow = NOPAT + Depreciation – (Capital expenditure + Working capital investment)
Estimate the most likely incremental cash flows to be generated by the target company with
the acquirer as owner (and not on as-is basis). Note that financing is not incorporated in the
cash flows. Suitable adjustments for the specific financing of the acquisition will be made in
the discount rate.
Step 2 : Estimate a suitable Discount Rate for the Acquisition
The acquiring company can use its weighted average cost of capital based on its target capital
structure only if the acquisition will not affect the riskiness of the acquirer. If the acquirer
intends to change the capital structure of the target company, suitable adjustments for the
discount rate should be made. The discount rate should reflect the capital structure of the
company after the acquisition.
Step 3 : Calculate the Present Value of Cash Flows
Since the life of a going concern, by definition, is infinite, the value of the company is,
= PV of cash flows during the forecast period + Terminal value
We can set the forecast period in such a way that the company reaches a stable phase after
that. In other words, we are assuming that the company will grow at a constant rate after the
forecast period.
Step 4 : Estimate the Terminal Value
The terminal value is the present value of cash flows occurring after the forecast period. If we
assume that cash flows grow at a constant rate after the forecast period, the terminal value,
TV = [CFt (1 + g)] / k – g
where,
CFt = Cash flow in the last year
g = Constant growth rate
k = Discount rate
Step 5 : Add Present Value of Terminal Value.
Step 6 : Deduct the Value of Debt and Other Obligations Assumed by the Acquirer.
Illustration 1: XYZ Ltd. is a paints manufacturer. Analysts expect the company to grow at 15
per cent per annum. The analyst’s forecast of free cash flow is shown below :



Free cash flow forecast for XYZ Ltd.
(Rs in crores)
Years
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Sales 178.13 204.85 235.58 270.92 311.56 358.29 412.03 473.83
EBIT 16.33 17.25 17.19 19.58 22.17 24.95 27.89 30.95
NOPAT 10.61 11.21 11.17 12.73 14.41 16.22 18.13 20.12
+ Depreciation 3.14 2.13 2.68 2.82 2.96 3.11 3.26 3.42
Less :
Capital exp. 0 0.63 2.36 1.79 1.88 1.97 2.07 2.17
Increase in 0 6.44 4.12 6.10 9.45 11.67 12.97 14.32
working capital
Free cash flow 13.75 6.27 7.37 7.66 6.04 5.69 6.35 7.05
The cost of capital of the company is 15 per cent. The present value of cash flows discounted
at 15% cost of capital works out to ` 36.09 crores. We are assuming that the company
acquiring XYZ Ltd. will not make any operating improvements or change the capital structure.
Analyst expect the cash flows to grow at 10 per cent forever after 2009.
Approach I : Terminal Value is a Growing Perpetuity
Terminal value = FCF, (1 + g) / (k – g)
7.05 (1.10) 7.775
= =
0.15 - 0.10 0.05
= ` 155.5 crores
Present value of terminal value = 155.5 × PVIF (15, 7)
= 155.5 × 0.376 = 58.47 crores
Total value = ` (36.09 + 58.47) = ` 94.56 crores
Since we are interested in buying only the shares of the firm, the value of outstanding debt
should be deducted from the firm value to arrive at the value of equity. XYZ Ltd. has debt
amounting to ` 7.92 crores
Value of equity= 94.56 – 7.92 = ` 86.64 crores
As is evident, much of the target company’s value comes from terminal value, which is
sensitive to the assumption made about the growth rate of cash flows in perpetuity. There are
three other ways in which terminal value can be estimated.
Approach 2 : Terminal Value is a Stable Perpetuity
If there is no capital expenditure or capital expenditure exactly equals depreciation after the
forecast period, meaning that the total capital does not grow anymore, cash flow equals profit



after tax. In other words, when we assume that the company earns a rate of return on capital
equal to the cost of capital irrespective of growth in sales,
é Free cash flow ù
Terminal value = ê ú = FCF / k
ë Discount rate û
é 7.05 ù
=ê ú = ` 47 crores
ë 0.15 û
Value of the firm = 36.09 + 47.00 = ` 83.09 crores.
The difference in value is almost ` 12.71 crores.
Approach 3 : Terminal Value as a Multiple of Book Value
The terminal value can also be estimated by multiplying the forecasted book value of capital
by an appropriate market-to-book ratio (P/BV). Normally, the current M/B ratio is taken as
proxy for future.
Consider the following example.
Market value Book value M/B
Debt 7.92 7.92 1.0
Equity 15.0 10.0 1.50
Total Capital 22.92 17.92 1.28
The current M/B ratio is 1.28. If the book value of capital at the end of forecast period is ` 30
crores, Terminal value = 30 × 1.28 = ` 38.40 crores.
Approach 4 : Terminal Value as a Multiple of Earnings
The terminal value under this method is established by multiplying the forecasted terminal
year profits by an appropriate price minus the earning multiple. As usual, the current P/E
multiple can be used as proxy for future.
Current P/E multiple = Current market value of company/Current profit after tax
To illustrate, if the current market value is ` 57.62 crores and profit after tax is ` 8.23 crores,
P/E = 57.62/8.23 = 7
Terminal value = Last year profits × P/E multiple
= 20.12 × 7 = ` 140.84 crores
Obviously, the method adopted by the analyst affects the final value placed on the company’s
equity. These four methods might give four different answers. The DCF approach can capture
the value of assets in place. Some components of the acquisition are hard to quantify.
Consequently, the final price paid by the acquirer might be much higher than the DCF value
obtained. But the premium paid for the so-called synergy should not be out of proportion. We
could think of the target company’s value as,
Value of buyer = Value of seller + Value added by buyer + Change in value to buyer if target
firm is acquired by competitor.



The first component is the DCF value of the target firm in its current form with the current
growth rate, current financial plan, etc.
The second component, value added by acquirer comprises of synergy to acquirer, cost
savings, value of new strategy after the acquisition, proceeds from sale of redundant assets
adjusted for taxes benefits from improvement in credit-rating and other financing side-effects.
The third component is the gain or loss to the acquirer if the competitor manages to acquire
the target. The sum total of these three components gives the maximum value of the target.
A sensitivity analysis may be conducted for pessimistic and optimistic values of key financial
variables like sales growth rate, profit margin, working capital investment, capital expenditure,
period of high growth, etc. The end product of such an analysis is a range of prices within the
acquisition price may lie. Obviously, the acquirer would want to lower the price as much as
possible and the opposite is true for the target. The important message is that the acquirer
should consider not only what the target may be worth to the buyer but also what the target’s
next best alternative is likely to be. For example, suppose that when valued as a stand alone,
a target is worth ` 100, whereas, due to synergies, the target is worth ` 150 as part of the
buying firm. A key element in the negotiation process is the value of the target to another
bidder. If the synergy is unique to the buyer, the buyer may purchase the company for one
rupee more than the stand-alone value (` 101). On the other hand, if the synergy is available
to other bidders as well, the buyer may have to raise the bid closer to ` 150. In other words,
the valuation must take into account the uniqueness of synergy and the likely range of prices
affordable by other bidders. To sum up, valuation has three elements — estimation of cash
flows, estimation of discount rate, and sensitivity analysis.
13.1.2 Cost to create: In this approach, the cost for building up the business from scratch is
taken into consideration and the purchase price is typically the cost plus a margin. This is
suitable in cases like build-operate-transfer deals. The value of a business is estimated in the
capitalized earnings method by capitalizing the net profits of the business of the current year
or average of three years or projected years at required rate of return.
13.1.3 Capitalised Earning Method: A common method of valuing a business is also called
the Capitalization of Earnings (or Capitalized Earnings) method. Capitalization refers to the
return on investment that is expected by an investor. The value of a business is estimated in
the capitalized earnings method by capitalizing the net profits of the business of the current
year or average of three years or a projected year at required rate of return.There are many
variations in how this method is applied. However, the basic logic is the same. Suppose you
had ` 1,00,000 to invest. You might look at different investment options available e.g. shares,
bonds, or savings accounts etc. You would compare the potential return against the risk of
each and make a judgment as to which is the best deal in your particular situation.
The same return on investment logic holds for buying a business. Capitalization methods (and
other methods) for valuing a business are based upon return on the new entity's investment.
13.1.4 Chop-Shop Method: This approach attempts to identify multi-industry companies that
are undervalued and would have more value if separated from each other. In other words as
per this approach an attempt is made to buy assets below their replacement value. This
approach involves following three steps:



Step 1: Identify the firm’s various business segments and calculate the average capitalization
ratios for firms in those industries.
Step 2: Calculate a “theoretical” market value based upon each of the average capitalization ratios.
Step 3: Average the “theoretical” market values to determine the “chop-shop” value of the firm.
Illustration 2: Using the chop-shop approach (or Break-up value approach), assign a value
for Cornett GMBH. whose stock is currently trading at a total market price of €4 million. For
Cornett, the accounting data set forth three business segments: consumer wholesaling,
specialty services, and assorted centers. Data for the firm’s three segments are as follows:
Business segment Segment sales Segment assets Segment income
Consumer wholesaling €1,500,000 € 750,000 €100,000
Specialty services €800,000 €700,000 €150,000
Assorted centers €2,000,000 €3,000,000 €600,000
Industry data for “pure-play” firms have been compiled and are summarized as follows:
Business segment Capitalization/sales Capitalization/assets Capitalization/op
erating income
Consumer wholesaling 0.75 0.60 10.00
Specialty services 1.10 0.90 7.00
Assorted centers 1.00 0.60 6.00
Solution
Cornett, GMBH. – Break-up valuation
Business Segment Capital-to- Sales Segment Sales Theoretical Values
Consumer wholesale 0.75 €1,500,000 €1,125,000
Specialty services 1.10 €800,000 €880,000
Assorted centers 1.00 €2,000,000 €2,000,000
Total value €4,005,000

Assorted centers 0.60 €3,000,000 €1,800,000

Consumer wholesale 10.00 €100,000 €1,000,000
Specialty services 7.00 €150,000 €1,050,000
Assorted centers 6.00 €600,000 €3,600,000



4,005,000 + 2,880,000 + 5,650,000
Average theoretical value = = 4,178,333.33 say 4,178,000
3
Average theoretical value of Cornett GMBH. = €4,178,000

13.2 Market Based Valuation : While using the market based valuation for unlisted
companies, comparable listed companies have to be identified and their market multiples
(such as market capitalizations to sales or stock price to earnings per share) are used as
surrogates to arrive at a value.
13.2.1 Market capitalization for listed companies: Method of evaluating the market
capitalization for listed companies is same as Capitalized Earning Method except that here the
basis is taken earning of similar type of companies.
13.2.2 Market multiples of comparable companies for unlisted company: This method is
mainly concerned with the valuation of unlisted companies. In this method various Market
multiples i.e. market value of a company’s equity ( resulting in Market Value of Equity Multiple)
or invested capital ( resulting in Market Value of Invested Capital) are divided by a company
measure (or company fundamental financial variable) – earnings, book value or revenue- of
comparable listed companies are computed. These computed multiples are then adjusted in
light of differences in under consideration company’s growth, size or any company specific risk
vis-à-vis as those of guideline company. Thereafter these adjusted market multiples are
applied to the appropriate fundamental financial variable of the company under consideration
to derive its value.
The basics of valuation for listed and unlisted company stay the same. Only thing that is
limited with a unlisted company is the ready-made price market perceives for its equity/EV etc.
In such cases we need to carry out an exhaustive/ disciplined "Benchmarking Analysis" and
identify the most applicable "normalised" median multiples for company under consideration. It
is very necessary to ensure the proximity of the biz model, size, profitability, geographical
spread, risk patterns etc. of the comparable companies with the subject company. Once this is
done, it is as good as valuing any listed entity (of course you would need to make subject
company specific adjustments say growth, competition etc.).
13.3 Asset Based Valuation : The asset based value considers either the book value
(assets net liabilities) or the net adjusted value (revalued net assets). If the company has
intangible assets like brands, copyrights, intellectual property etc., these are valued
independently and added to the net asset value to arrive at the business value. Sometimes, if
the business were not to be acquired on a going concern basis, the liquidation value (or the
realization from sale of assets) is considered for the purpose of valuation.
13.3.1 Net Adjusted Asset Value or Economic Book Value: Valuation of a 'going concern'
business by computed by adjusting the value of its all assets and liabilities to the fair market
value. This method allows for valuation of goodwill, inventories, real estate, and other assets
at their current market value. In other words this method includes valuation of intangible
assets and also allows assets to be adjusted to their current market value.
13.3.2 Intangible Asset Valuation: Acceptable methods for the valuation of identifiable
intangible assets and intellectual property fall into three broad categories. They are market
based, cost based, or based on estimates of past and future economic benefits.



Cost-based methodologies, such as the “cost to create” or the “cost to replace” a given asset,
assume that there is some relationship between cost and value and the approach has very
little to commend itself other than ease of use. The method ignores changes in the time value
of money and ignores maintenance.
The methods of valuation flowing from an estimate of past and future economic benefits (also
referred to as the income methods) can be broken down in to four limbs; 1) capitalization of
historic profits, 2) gross profit differential methods, 3) excess profits methods, and 4) the relief
from royalty method.
1. The capitalization of historic profits arrives at the value of intangible assets by multiplying
the maintainable historic profitability of the asset by a multiple that has been assessed after
scoring the relative strength of the intangible assets. For example, a multiple is arrived at after
assessing a brand in the light of factors such as leadership, stability, market share,
internationality, trend of profitability, marketing and advertising support and protection. While
this capitalization process recognizes some of the factors which should be considered, it has
major shortcomings, mostly associated with historic earning capability. The method pays little
regard to the future.
2. Gross profit differential methods are often associated with trade mark and brand valuation.
These methods look at the differences in sale prices, adjusted for differences in marketing
costs. That is the difference between the margin of the branded and/or patented product and
an unbranded or generic product. This formula is used to drive out cash-flows and calculate
value. Finding generic equivalents for a patent and identifiable price differences is far more
difficult than for a retail brand.
3. The excess profits method looks at the current value of the net tangible assets employed as
the benchmark for an estimated rate of return. This is used to calculate the profits that are
required in order to induce investors to invest into those net tangible assets. Any return over
and above those profits required in order to induce investment is considered to be the excess
return attributable to the intangible assets . While theoretically relying upon future economic
benefits from the use of the asset, the method has difficulty in adjusting to alternative uses of
the asset.
4. Relief from royalty considers what the purchaser could afford, or would be willing to pay, for
a licence of similar intangible assets. The royalty stream is then capitalized reflecting the risk
and return relationship of investing in the asset.
13.3.3 Liquidation Value: This approach is similar to the book valuation method, except that
the value of assets at liquidation are used instead of the book or market value of the assets.
Using this approach, the liabilities of the business are deducted from the liquidation value of
the assets to determine the liquidation value of the business. The overall value of a business
using this method should be lower than a valuation reached using the standard book or
adjusted book methods.
The liquidation value of a company is equal to what remains after all assets have been sold
and all liabilities have been paid. It differs from book value in that assets would be sold at
market prices, whereas book value uses the historical costs of assets. This is considered to be



a better floor price than book value for a company, because if a company drops significantly
below this price, then someone, such as a corporate raider, can buy enough stock to take
control of it, and then liquidate it for a riskless profit. Of course, the company’s stock price
would have to be low enough to cover the costs of liquidating it and the uncertainty in what the
assets would actually sell for in the marketplace.

14. Case Studies
Premiums and discounts are typically attached to a business valuation, based on the situation.
These could be market share premium, controlling stake premium, brand value premium,
small player discount or unlisted company discount. In addition, it may be required to work out
various potential scenarios in each methodology and arrive at the likely probabilities of each
while deriving the values.
Timing is very critical while divesting a business since valuation depends on the timing. Timing
of sale is crucial keeping in mind economic cycles (deal valuation takes into consideration
GDP growth rates), stock market situations (which would decide market multiples), global
situations (like a war or terrorist attacks).
In times like the above, the price expectations between the buyer and the seller would widely
vary. For example, during a stock market lull, there could be a situation where there are more
buyers but not sellers due to the low valuation.
The basis for M&A is the expectation of several future benefits arising out of synergies
between businesses. There is a risk involved in realizing this synergy value. This could be due
to corporate, market, economic reasons or wrong estimation of the benefits/synergies. A key
case in point here is the high valuations at which internet companies were acquired in the year
2000 (such as Satyam’s acquisition of India World for USD 100 Million).
It is also important to try and work out valuations from as many of the above methods as
possible and then try and see which methodology is to be taken in and which are to be
rejected and derive a range of values for the transaction in different situations in case one is
called upon to assist in advising the transaction valuation. Some methods like Net Asset value
or past earnings based methods may prove inadequate in case of growing businesses or
those with intangible assets.
Some case studies are listed below based on actual Indian situations and an analysis based
on published data is given below.
14.1 Case Study – Rationale for M & A and Valuation
IBM acquisition of Daksh e-Services
The USD 89 billion IBM proposed to buy 100% stake in Daksh e-Services. Daksh is one of the
leading independent third party BPO services providers in India and ranks among the top
three. Daksh was estimated to have revenues of about USD 50 Million and net profits of USD
10 Million for FY 2004. The value of the deal was estimated to be between USD 130 to 170
Million. This works out to a sales multiple of 3 and earnings multiple of 15.
While the valuation could typically be considered to be on the higher side (smaller firms in this
space would command a revenue multiple of 1 to 1.5), several factors have made the deal



worth its premium. These include the larger size of Daksh, the fact that its IPO-ready and
customer synergies (IBM has several existing contracts with the two large customers of
Daksh-Sprint and Aetna). Also, IBM has recently increased its India focus and it currently has
4500 people working in the software services and BPO areas.
The deal proves beneficial for Daksh as well considering that it is now stronger to face the stiff
competition from not only Indian third party players, but large multinational players as well.
Also, the deal would provide reasonable returns for its current financial investors and give
them an exit opportunity.
14.2 Case Study – Valuation Analysis
Listed software company X to merge with unlisted company Y
Company X and company Y were in the software services business. X was a listed company
and Y was an unlisted entity. X and Y decided to merge in order to benefit from marketing.
Operational synergies and economies of scale. With both companies being mid-sized, the
merger would make them a larger player, open new market avenues, bring in expertise in
more verticals and wider management expertise. For company X, the benefit lied in merging
with a newer company with high growth potential and for company Y, the advantage was in
merging with a business with track record, that too a listed entity.
The stock swap ratio considered after valuation of the two businesses was 1:1. Several key
factors were considered to arrive at this valuation. Some of them were very unique to the
businesses and the deal:
· Valuation based on book value net asset value would not be appropriate for X and Y since
they are in the knowledge business, unless other intangibles assets like human capital,
customer relationships etc. could be identified and valued.
· X and Y were valued on the basis of a) expected earnings b) market multiple.
· While arriving at a valuation based on expected earnings, a higher growth rate was
considered for Y, it being on the growth stage of the business life cycle while a lower rate
was considered for X, it being in the mature stage and considering past growth.
· Different discount factors were considered for X and Y, based on their cost of capital, fund
raising capabilities and debt-equity ratios.
· While arriving at a market based valuation, the market capitalization was used as the
starting point for X which was a listed company. Since X had a significant stake in Z,
another listed company, the market capitalization of X reflected the value of Z as well.
Hence the market capitalization of Z had to be removed to the extent of X’s stake from X’s
value as on the valuation date.
· Since Y was unlisted, several comparable companies had to be identified, based on size,
nature of business etc. and a composite of their market multiples had to be estimated as a
surrogate measure to arrive at Y’s likely market capitalization, as if it were listed. This
value had to be discounted to remove the listing or liquidity premium since the surrogate
measure was estimated from listed companies.



· After arriving at two sets of values for X and Y, a weighted average value was calculated
after allotting a higher weight for market based method for X (being a listed company) and
a higher weight for earnings based method for Y (being an unlisted but growing company).
The final values for X and Y were almost equal and hence the 1:1 ratio was decided.
14.3 Case Study – Rationale for M&A and Valuation
Citigroup to buy 100% stake in e-Serve International
US-based banking major Citigroup has announced that it intends to buy out the 55.6 per cent
public shareholding in its publicly listed subsidiary, business process outsourcing company e-
Serve International, for ` 550 crore. Citigroup is looking at offering e-Serve’s existing
shareholders up to ` 800 per share for buying their holding in the company. This puts the
enterprise value of e-Serve at more than ` 1,000 crore. Citigroup is the largest shareholder
with its current stake of 44.4 per cent. Citigroup is also the sole customer of e-Serve which
makes it a captive unit of the banking major. e-Serve provides back office services to Citigroup
companies.
Citigroup has offered a price of ` 800 per share as against the closing price of ` 630 on the
date of announcement (April 8, 2004). Also, the price is at a 26% premium over the 52 week
average share price. Why would Citigroup which already owns the largest stake want to buy
out all of e-Serve, that too at a premium?
Citigroup expects several potential integration benefits from the buyout. Since e-Serve caters
not only to Citibank’s requirements, but more importantly, to Citibank’s customers
requirements through its call centre and other back office operations. Citibank feels it is crucial
to have full stakeholding of e-Serve to ensure operational flexibility and control.
Also, from a financial and business perspective e-Serve has grown by leaps and bounds since
it started business as a small check processing centre in 1992. Today e-Serve’s 5,000
employees provide services to Citibank India and Citigroup businesses in Europe, Africa,
North America and South Asia. The company had a net profit of ` 115.1 million on revenue of
` 850 million in the quarter to Dec. 31, 2003. e-Serve is expected to grow at 30% in revenue
and profits in the next two years.
This acquisition is strategic in nature considering not only internal synergies, but also the India
out-sourcing story. India is becoming the preferred back office centre to the world’s leading
companies.
In summary, the challenge to valuing for M&As is to obtain a thorough understanding of the
business dynamics of both the parties, the rationale for the merger, the industry dynamics, the
resulting synergies as well as the likely risks of the transaction are required in order to ensure
that the valuation is such that it is a ‘win-win’ for both the parties and is financially viable. It is
also important to understand that there are no hard and fast rules since one is projecting the
future which is ‘unknown’ based on current understanding. Therefore, experience, good
judgment and diligence are important in working out values.



15.0 Corporate Restructuring
Restructuring of business is an integral part of modern business enterprises. The globalization
and liberalization of Control and Restrictions has generated new waves of competition and
free trade. This requires Restructuring and Re-organisation of business organization to create
new synergies to face the competitive environment and changed market conditions.
Restructuring usually involves major organizational changes such as shift in corporate
strategies. Restructuring can be internally in the form of new investments in plant and
machinery, Research and Development of products and processes, hiving off of non-core
businesses, divestment, sell-offs, de-merger etc. Restructuring can also take place externally
through mergers and acquisition (M&A) and by forming joint-ventures and having strategic
alliances with other firms.
The topic of Mergers and Acquisition has already been discussed in previous section. It is now
proposed to focus on Corporate Restructuring.
The aspects relating to expansion or contraction of a firm’s operations or changes in its assets
or financial or ownership structure are known as corporate re-structuring. While there are
many forms of corporate re-structuring, mergers, acquisitions and takeovers, financial
restructuring and re-organisation, divestitures de-mergers and spin-offs, leveraged buyouts
and management buyouts are some of the most common forms of corporate restructuring.
These forms are discussed herein as follows:
15.1 Demergers or Divisions : There are various reasons for divestment or demerger viz.,
(i) To pay attention on core areas of business;
(ii) The Division’s/business may not be sufficiently contributing to the revenues;
(iii) The size of the firm may be too big to handle;
(iv) The firm may be requiring cash urgently in view of other investment opportunities.
Different ways of divestment or demerger are as follows:
Sell off: A sell off is the sale of an asset, factory, division, product line or subsidiary by one
entity to another for a purchase consideration payable either in cash or in the form of
securities.
Spin-off: In this case, a part of the business is separated and created as a separate firm. The
existing shareholders of the firm get proportionate ownership. So there is no change in
ownership and the same shareholders continue to own the newly created entity in the same
proportion as previously in the original firm. The management of spun-off division is however,
parted with. Spin-off does not bring fresh cash. The reasons for spin off may be:
(i) Separate identity to a part/division.
(ii) To avoid the takeover attempt by a predator by making the firm unattractive to him since
a valuable division is spun-off.
(iii) To create separate Regulated and unregulated lines of business.



Split-up: This involves breaking up of the entire firm into a series of spin off (by creating
separate legal entities). The parent firm no longer legally exists and only the newly created
entities survive. For instance a corporate firm has 4 divisions namely A, B, C, D. All these 4
division shall be split-up to create 4 new corporate firms with full autonomy and legal status.
The original corporate firm is to be wound up. Since de-merged units are relatively smaller in
size, they are logistically more convenient and manageable. Therefore, it is understood that
spin-off and split-up are likely to enhance shareholders value and bring efficiency and
effectiveness.
Carve outs: This is like spin off however, some shares of the new company are sold in the
market by making a public offer, so this brings cash. In carve out, the existing company may
sell either majority stake or minority stake, depending upon whether the existing management
wants to continue to control it or not.
Sale of A Division: In the case of sale of a division, the seller company is demerging its
business whereas the buyer company is acquiring a business. For the first time the tax laws in
India propose to recognise demergers. The broad principles of the tax principles relating to
demerger are :
· Demergers should be tax neutral and should not attract any additional liability to tax.
· Tax benefits and concessions available to any undertaking should be available to the said
undertaking on its transfer to the resulting company.
· Tax benefits should be limited to the transfer of business as a going concern and not to
the transfer of specific assets.
· The accumulated losses and unabsorbed depreciation should be allowed to be carried
forward by the resulting company if these are directly relatable to the undertaking
proposed to be transferred. Where it is not possible to relate these to the undertaking
such losses and depreciation shall be apportioned between the demerged company and
the resulting company in proportion of the assets coming to the share of each.
· The Central Government may prescribe certain guidelines or conditions to ensure that
demergers are made for genuine business purposes.
· The benefits available for demergers will be extended to Authorities or Boards set up by
Central or State Governments.
· The transfer of assets will not attract capital gains tax if the demerged company is an
Indian company.
· The book value of the transferred assets will be deducted from the block for the purpose
of depreciation.
· Depreciation on the assets transferred will be allowed pro-rata, on the basis of the number
of days of use.
· No profit or loss will be recognised on transfer of patent rights or copyrights or telecom
licence.



· Demerger expenses shall be allowed as a deduction equally over five years.
· A new ship acquired by a shipping company from a tax free reserve will be permitted to be
transferred without attracting tax.
· Any transfer or issue of shares by the resulting company to the shareholders of the
demerged company will not attract capital gains tax.
· The deduction for amortisation of know-how or preliminary expenses will continue in the
hands of the resulting company.
· The resulting company will be liable for tax in respect of recoupment of loss or remission
of liability incurred by the demerged company.
· If oil prospecting or exploration business is acquired, the special deduction for such
business will be allowed to the resulting company
· The actual cost of any transferred capial assets will be the same as in the case of the
demerged company but shall not exceed the written down value in the hands of the
demerged company.
· The written down value of any block of assets will be the book value in the accounts of the
demerged company, but shall not exceed the written down value in the hands of the
demerged company.
· The holding period of shares acquired on demerger shall include the holding period of the
shares in the demerged company.
· The cost of acquisition of shares in the demerged company will be spread over the shares
in the demerged company and the shares in the resulting company, proportionate to the
net book value of the assets transferred.
· In the case of GDRs and FCCBs, the concessional tax provisions will continue to apply.
· Any distribution of shares by the resulting company will not be considered as dividend.
The brought forward losses will not lapse in spite of change in shareholding, subject to certain
conditions.
15.2 Demerger or Division of Family-Managed Business : Around 80 per cent of private
sector companies in India are family-managed companies. The family-owned companies are,
under extraordinary pressure to yield control to professional managements, as, in the
emerging scenario of a liberalised economy the capital markets are broadening, with attendant
incentives for growth. So, many of these companies are arranging to hive off their unprofitable
businesses or divisions with a view to meeting a variety of succession problems.
Even otherwise, a group of such family-managed companies may undertake restructuring of
its operations with a view also to consolidating its core businesses. For this, the first step that
may need to be taken is to identify core and non-core operations within the group. The second
step may involve reducing interest burden through debt restructuring along with sale of surplus
assets. The proceeds from the sale of assets may be employed for expanding by acquisitions
and rejuvenation of its existing operations. The bottomline is that an acquisition must improve



economies of scale, lower the cost of production, and generate and promote synergies.
Besides acquisitions, therefore, the group may necessarily have to take steps to improve
productivity of its existing operations.
15.3 Corporate Controls
Going Private: This refers to the situation wherein a listed company is converted into a
private company by buying back all the outstanding shares from the markets.
Equity buyback: This refers to the situation wherein a company buys back its own shares
back from the market. This results in reduction in the equity capital of the company. This
strengthen the promoter’s position by increasing his stake in the equity of the company.
Restructuring of an existing business: An existing business in the face of impending
onslaught of international competition, or even otherwise, may require restructuring. Such
restructuring may involve, for instance, downsizing and closing down of some unprofitable
departments. So also, trimming the number of personnel. There may also arise a case of
restructuring of a company where for instance, there has been a failure of management, or, for
the matter of that, to overcome a wrong business or financial decision. In such a situation, the
company may sell or close certain divisions, pay off debt, focus on more promising lines of
business and focus hard to enhance shareholder value. Restructuring may also involve a long-
drawn process. The interesting part is that the process of change has affected stock prices of
these companies. And the same can be expected of their domestic subsidiaries after a while
unless business dynamics or holding structure widely differ.
Buy-outs: This is also known as Management buyouts (MBO). In this case, the management
of the company buys a particular part of the business from the firm and then incorporates the
same as a separate entity. Sometimes, the existing management is short of funds to pay for
buyout and therefore resort to heavy debt financing nearly 90-95% from investors, banks,
Financial Institutions etc. In such a situation the buyout is termed as leveraged Buy-out (LBO).
The LBO involves participation by third party (lenders) and the management no longer deals
with different shareholders, but instead with the lenders only. However, heavy debt financing
in LBO leads to dramatic increase in the debt ratio posing heavy risk. However, LBO is still
acceptable in view of Tax benefits accrued on interest, it being tax deductible.
A very important phenomenon witnessed in recent times is one of buy-outs. The majority of
buy-outs are management buy-outs and involve the acquisition by incumbent management of
the business where they are employed. Typically, the purchase price is met by a small amount
of their own funds and the rest from a mix of venture capital and bank debt.
Management buy-ins are a similar form of transaction but differs in that the entrepreneurs
leading the transaction come from outside the company. The Buy-ins is a hybrid form involving
both existing and new managements. The late 1990s saw the developments of investor buy-
outs where venture capital groups initiated and lead transactions, with managements playing a
marginal role.
Internationally, the two most common sources of buy-out operations are divestment of parts of
larger groups and family companies facing succession problems. Corporate groups may seek
to sell subsidiaries as part of a planned strategic disposal programme or more forced



reorganistion in the face of parental financing problems. Public companies have, however,
increasingly sought to dispose of subsidiaries through an auction process partly to satisfy
shereholder pressure for value maximisation.
In recessionary periods buy-outs can play a big part in restructuring of failed or failing
businesses and in an environment of generally weakened corporate performance often
represent the only viable purchasers when parents wish to dispose of subsidiaries.
Buy-outs are one of the most common forms of privatisation, offering opportunities for
enhancing the performances of parts of the public sector, widening employee ownership and
giving managers and employees incentives to make best use of their expertise in particular
sectors.
Buy-outs will typically be financed by a mixture of senior secured debt and a range of equity
and quasi-equity instruments. For larger buy-outs, especially when auctions and buoyant
conditions mean that prices well in excess of the security value of assets have to be paid,
subordinated (mezzanine debt) may be used. Quasi-equity instruments, such as cumulative
convertible participating preferred ordinary shares, are important both in ensuring the venture
capitalist obtains a regular dividend and in putting pressure on managers to perform and/or
seek to realise an investment in a timely fashion.
Interestingly, capital markets have generally shown an obvious bias in favour of large
companies; small and medium-sized companies, the chief generators of jobs in the economy,
have suffered neglect by investors. While smaller companies produce superior earnings and
higher share prices during bull markets, there is usually, during bear markets, a flight to
quality. Investors divert funds towards the large, more stable companies that tend to have
stronger balance sheets. The recent development is that private individuals are increasingly
reducing their direct exposure to equities in order to take advantages of tax-privileged forms of
ownership in favour of an institutionalised market. This result in concentration of funds in the
hands of professional managers. But they, too, are biased in favour of large-cap stocks. This
anomaly in the capital market needs to be corrected urgently if restructuring of various
industrial sectors has to be completed with quicker pace.
Full buy-out : The Bhagwati Committee noted, in its Final Report, that the new 1997
Takeover Code has finally created a transparent environment for taking over the ownership
and control of companies. This is to be welcomed, because takeovers play an important role in
building corporate synergy, in raising shareholder value and in keeping companies on their
toes. However, there is an important element that has been missed out by the new code,
which ought to be rectified as soon as possible. This has to do with full buy-out. Since the
term ‘full buy-out’ is not well understood in India, it requires, according to the Bhagwati Panel,
some explanation. In many OECD countries, when a person, group, or body corporate
acquires over 90% or 95% of the equity of a public listed company, it is incumbent upon the
residual shareholders to sell their shares to the buyer at a fair price that is set by the
regulatory authority. This is not legislated in India.
A key feature of shareholder democracy is that all shareholders who own a given class of
equity are alike. Without full buy-out provisions, the residual shareholders face one of two
options, both of which are inimical to this aspect of shareholder democracy. First, they may



hold out for a higher offer, which is probably unfair vis-a-vis the other shareholders who sold
their stake. Or, second (and more likely if the company gets delisted) these shareholders may
get squeezed by the buyer to accept a lower price, which is unfair to them. Therefore, in the
interest of shareholders and companies, the Bhagwati Panel has recommended that, in the
event of any person, group or body corporate acquiring 95% of the shares of a public listed
company — either through a takeover or otherwise — and the company getting delisted,
residual shareholders should sell their shares to the 95% owner at a price based upon SEBI
guidelines.
Seller’s Perspective: It is necessary to remember that for every buyer there must be a seller.
Although the methods of analysis for selling are the same as for buying, the selling process is
termed divestiture. The decision to sell a company is at least as important as buying one. But
selling generally lacks the kind of planning that goes into buying. Quite often, the decision and
the choice of the buyer is arbitrary, resulting in a raw deal for the selling company’s
shareholders. It is important to understand that selling needs the same set of skills required
for buying. At some point of time the executives of a company may have to take the decision
to divest a division There is nothing wrong in selling a division if it is worth more to someone
else. The decision to sell may be prompted by poor growth prospects for a division or
consolidation in the industry. Given the fact that the need to sell may arise any time, it makes
sense for executives to be prepared. More specifically, executives need to know their
company’s worth. Consideration may be given to strengths and weakness in production,
marketing, general management, value of synergy to potential buyers, value of brand equity,
skill base of the organisation, etc.

16.0 Financial Restructuring
Financial restructuring refers to a kind of internal changes made by the management in Assets
and Liabilities of a company with the consent of its various stakeholders. This is a suitable
mode of restructuring for corporate entities who have suffered from sizeable losses over a
period of time. Consequent upon losses the share capital or networth of such companies get
substantially eroded. In fact, in some cases, the accumulated losses are even more than the
share capital and thus leading to negative networth, putting the firm on the verge of
liquidation. In order to revive such firms, financial restructuring is one of the technique to bring
into health such firms who are having potential and promise for better financial performance in
the years to come. To achieve this desired objective, such firms need to re-start with a fresh
balance sheet free from losses and fictitious assets and show share capital at its real true
worth.
To nurse back such firms a plan of restructuring need to be formulated involving a number of
legal formalities (which includes consent of court, and other stake-holders viz., creditors,
lenders and shareholders etc.). An attempt is made to do Refinancing and rescue financing
while Restructuring. Normally equity shareholders make maximum sacrifice by foregoing
certain accrued benefits, followed by preference shareholders and debenture holders, lenders
and creditors etc. The sacrifice may be in the form of waving a part of the sum payable to
various liability holders. The foregone benefits may be in the form of new securities with lower
coupon rates so as to reduce future liabilities. The sacrifice may also lead to the conversion of



debt into equity. Sometime, creditors, apart from reducing their claim, may also agree to
convert their dues into securities to avert pressure of payment. This measures will lead to
better financial liquidity. The financial restructuring leads to significant changes in the financial
obligations and capital structure of corporate firm, leading to a change in the financing pattern,
ownership and control and payment of various financial changes.
In nutshell it may be said that financial restructuring (also known as internal re-construction) is
aimed at reducing the debt/payment burden of the corporate firm. This results into (i)
Reduction/Waiver in the claims from various stakeholders; (ii) Real worth of various
properties/assets by revaluing them timely; (iii) utilizing profit accruing on account of
appreciation of assets to write off accumulated losses and fictitious assets (such as
preliminary expenses and cost of issue of shares and debentures) and creating provision for
bad and doubtful debts. In practice, the financial re-structuring scheme is drawn in such a way
so that all the above requirements of write off are duly met. The following illustration is a good
example of financial restructuring.
Illustration 3: The following is the Balance-sheet of XYZ Company Ltd as on March 31st,
2006.
(` in lakhs)
Liabilities Assets
6 lakhs equity shares of ` 100/- each 600 Land & Building 200
2 lakhs 14% Preference shares of ` Plant & Machinery 300
100/- each 200 Furnitures & Fixtures 50
13% Debentures 200 Inventory 150
Debenture Interest accrued and Payable 26 Sundry debtors 70
Loan from Bank 74 Cash at Bank 130
Trade Creditors 300 Preliminary Expenses 10
Cost of Issue of debentures 5
Profit & Loss A/c 485
1,400 1,400
The XYZ Company did not perform well and has suffered sizable losses during the last few
years. However, it is now felt that the company can be nursed back to health by proper
financial restructuring and consequently the following scheme of reconstruction has been
devised:
(i) Equity shares are to be reduced to ` 25/- per share, fully paid up;
(ii) Preference shares are to be reduced (with coupon rate of 10%) to equal number of
shares of ` 50 each, fully paid up.
(iii) Debentureholders have agreed to forego interest accrued to them. Beside this, they have
agreed to accept new debentures carrying a coupon rate of 9%.
(iv) Trade creditors have agreed to forgo 25 per cent of their existing claim; for the balance
sum they have agreed to convert their claims into equity shares of ` 25/- each.



(v) In order to make payment for bank loan and augment the working capital, the company
issues 6 lakh equity shares at ` 25/- each; the entire sum is required to be paid on
application. The existing shareholders have agreed to subscribe to the new issue.
(vi) While Land and Building is to be revalued at ` 250 lakhs, Plant & Machinery is to be
written down to ` 104 lakhs. A provision amounting to ` 5 lakhs is to be made for bad
and doubtful debts.
You are required to show the impact of financial restructuring/re-construction. Also, prepare the
new balance sheet assuming the scheme of re-construction is implemented in letter and spirit.
Solution
Impact of Financial Restructuring
(i) Benefits to XYZ Ltd.
` in lakhs
(a) Reduction of liabilities payable
Reduction in equity share capital (6 lakh shares x ` 75 per share) 450
Reduction in preference share capital (2 lakh shares x ` 50 per 100
share)
Waiver of outstanding debenture Interest 26
Waiver from trade creditors (` 300 lakhs x 0.25) 75
651
(b) Revaluation of Assets
Appreciation of Land and Building (` 250 lakhs- ` 200 lakhs) 50
701
(ii) Amount of ` 701/- lakhs utilized to write off losses, fictious assets and over- valued assets.
Writing off profit and loss account 485
Cost of issue of debentures 5
Preliminary expenses 10
Provision for bad and doubtful debts 5
Revaluation of Plant and Machinery 196
(` 300 lakhs – ` 104 lakhs)
701
Balance sheet of XYZ Ltd as at_______ (after re-construction)
(` in lakhs)
Liabilities Amount Assets Amount
12 lakhs equity shares of 300 Land & Building 250
` 25/- each
2 lakhs 10% Preference 100 Plant & Machinery 104



shares of ` 50/- each
9% debentures 200 Furnitures & Fixtures 50
Trade creditors 225 Inventory 150
Sundry debtors 70
-5 65
Cash-at-Bank 206
(Balancing figure)*
825 825
*Opening Balance of ` 130/- lakhs + Sale proceeds from issue of new equity shares ` 150/-
lakhs – Payment of bank loan of ` 74/- lakhs = ` 206 lakhs.
It is worth mentioning that financial restructuring is unique in nature and is company specific. It
is carried out, in practice when all shareholders sacrifice and understand that the restructured
firm (reflecting its true value of assets, capital and other significant financial para meters) can
now be nursed back to health. This type of corporate restructuring helps in the revival of firms
that otherwise would have faced closure/liquidation.

17.0 Merger Failures or Potential Adverse Competitive Effects
Academic studies indicate that success in creating value through acquisitions in a competitive
market is extremely difficult. Jensen and Ruback (1983) highlighted this point by summarising
results from mergers and acquisitions over a period of 11 years. They found that in case of a
merger, the average return, around the date of announcement, to shareholders of the acquired
company is 20 per cent, whereas the average return to the acquiring company is 0 per cent.
Another study by McKinsey indicates that 61 per cent of the 116 acquisitions studied were failures,
23 per cent were successes. Despite such statistics why do companies acquire ? Why do mergers
fail ? The reasons for merger failures can be numerous. Some of the key reasons are :
· Acquirers generally overpay;
· The value of synergy is over-estimated;
· Poor post-merger integration; and
· Psychological barriers.
Companies often merge in the fear that the bigger competitors have economies of scale and
may destroy them by exercising a stranglehold on raw material supply, distribution etc. What
they don’t realise is the drawbacks of being big. The acquiring company’s executives would
have drawn up elaborate plans for the target without consulting its executives which leads to
resentment and managerial attrition. This can be avoided by honest discussions with the
target company’s executives.
Most companies merge with the hope that the benefits of synergy will be realised. Synergy will
be there only if the merged entity is managed better after the acquisition than it was managed
before. It is the quality of the top management that determines the success of the merger.
Quite often the executives of the acquiring company lose interest in the target company due to



its smallness. The small company executives get bogged down repairing vision and mission
statements, budgets, forecasts, profit plans which were hitherto unheard of. The elaborateness of
the control system depends on the size and culture of the company. To make a merger successful,
· Decide what tasks need to be accomplished in the post-merger period;
· Choose managers from both the companies (and from outside);
· Establish performance yardstick and evaluate the managers on that yardstick; and
· Motivate them.

18.0 Maximum Purchase Consideration
Maximum purchase consideration is value of vendor’s business from the viewpoint of the
purchaser. This is given by present value incremental cash flow accruing to the purchaser on
acquisition of vendor’s business. This cash flow can be different from cash flow generated by
vendor’s business due to synergy. The discounting rate should reflect risk associated with the
business of the vendor. The following additional points should be noted.
(a) The discounting rate represents the rate of return desired from the operating activities.
This means, the cash flows to be discounted should be the operating cash flow.
(b) The operating cash flow of a business is the aggregate of cash flows generated by the
operating assets. The present value of operating cash flow therefore, is the aggregate
value of net operating assets of the vendor. Where the purchaser takes over non-
operating assets of the vendor, the agreed value of the non-operating assets taken over
should be added with present value of operating cash flows.
(c) The acquisition of business can give rise to certain additional liabilities. For example, the
purchaser may wish to retrench some of the existing employees of the vendor. The
compensation payable on retrenchment of employees is an additional liability arising on
acquisition. These liabilities should be deducted from present value of operating cash flows.
(d) In theory, a business has infinite life. Yet, in reality it is very difficult to project cash flows
to eternity. It is, therefore, usual to assume that the business shall be disposed off after
the forecast period. The expected disposal value of the business, called the terminal or
horizon value, is a cash flow in the terminal year. The present value of terminal value is
added with the present value of operating cash flows.
Acquiring for Shares: The acquirer can pay the target company in cash or exchange shares
in consideration. The analysis of acquisition for shares is slightly different. The steps involved
in the analysis are:
· Estimate the value of acquirer’s (self) equity;
· Estimate the value of target company’s equity;
· Calculate the maximum number of shares that can be exchanged with the target
company’s shares; and
· Conduct the analysis for pessimistic and optimistic scenarios.



Exchange ratio is the number of acquiring firm’s shares exchanged for each share of the
selling firm’s stock. Suppose company A is trying to acquire company B’s 100,000 shares at `
230. So the cost of acquisition is ` 230,00,000. Company A has estimated its value at ` 200
per share. To get one share of company B, A has to exchange (230/200) 1.15 share, or
115,000 shares for 100,000 shares of B. The relative merits of acquisition for cash or shares
should be analysed after giving due consideration to the impact on EPS, capital structure, etc.
Impact of Price Earning Ratio: The reciprocal of cost of equity is price-earning (P/E) ratio.
The cost of equity, and consequently the P/E ratio reflects risk as perceived by the
shareholders. The risk of merging entities and the combined business can be different. In
other words, the combined P/E ratio can very well be different from those of the merging
entities. Since market value of a business can be expressed as product of earning and P/E
ratio (P/E x E = P), the value of combined business is a function of combined earning and
combined P/E ratio. A lower combined P/E ratio can offset the gains of synergy or a higher
P/E ratio can lead to higher value of business, even if there is no synergy. In ascertaining the
exchange ratio of shares due care should be exercised to take the possible combined P/E
ratio into account.
Illustration 4: Firm A is studying the possible acquisition of Firm B by way of merger. The
following data are available:
Firm After-tax earnings No. of equity shares Market price per share
A ` 10,00,000 2,00,000 ` 75
B ` 3,00,000 50,000 ` 60
(i) If the merger goes through by exchange of equity shares and the exchange ratio is set
according to the current market prices, what is the new earnings per share for Firm A.
(ii) Firm B wants to be sure that its earning per share is not diminished by the merger. What
exchange ratio is relevant to achieve the objective?
Solution
(i) the current market price is the basis of exchange of equity shares, in the proposed
merger, shareholders of Firm B will get only 40,000 shares in all or 4 shares of Firm A for
every 5 shares held by them, i.e.,
50,000 ´ 60
= 40,000
75
The total number of shares in Firm A will then be 2,40,000 and, ignoring any synergistic
effect, the profit will be ` 13,00,000. The new earning per share (EPS) of Firm A will be `
5.42, i.e., ` 13,00,000/2,40,000.
(ii) The present earnings per share of firm B is ` 6/- i.e., ` 3,00,000 ÷ 50,000 and that of
Firm A ` 5/-, i.e., ` 10,00,000 ÷ 2,00,000. If Firm B wants to ensure that, even after
merger, the earning per share of its shareholders should remain unaffected, then the
exchange ratio will be 6 shares for every 5 shares.



The total number of shares that will produce ` 3,00,000 profit is 60,000, i.e., 3,00,000 ÷
5, the EPS in Firm A. 60,000 shares of A will be distributed among, shareholders of Firm
B, giving a ratio of 6 shares in A for 5 shares in B.
Proof: The shareholders of Firm B will get in all 60,000 share for 50,000 shares. It means
13,00,000
after merger, their earning per share will be ` 5/-, i.e. . In all they will get `
2,60,000
3,00,000, i.e., 60,000 x 5, as before.
Illustration 5: The Board of Directors of X Ltd. are considering the possible acquisition (by
way of merger) of firm Y. The following data are available in respect of both the companies:
Company Earnings after Tax No. of Equity Market value per
(` ) shares share (` )
X 4,00,000 80,000 15
Y 1,20,000 20,000 12
(a) What shall be the new earning per share for Company X, if the proposed merger takes
place by exchange of equity share and the exchange ratio is based on the current market
prices?
(b) Company Y wants to be sure that earnings available to its shareholders will not be
diminished by the Merger. What should be the exchange ratio in that case?
Solution
(a)
Company
X Y
E.A.T. (` ) 4,00,000 1,20,000
No. of Equity Shares 80,000 20,000
Market Value (` ) 15 12
12
Firm Y will get ´ 20,000 = 16,000 shares
15

i.e., 4 shares of X Ltd. for every 5 shares of Y Ltd.
Then, total number of shares of X Ltd., shall be
80,000 + 16,000 = 96,000
Total earnings after tax shall be = 4,00,000 + 1,20,000
= ` 5,20,000
5,20,000
Therefore, E.P.S. = = 5.42 per share
96,000



(b) Present Earnings per share (E.P.S.)
4,00,000
Company X = =` 5
80,000
1,20,000
Company Y = =` 6
20,000
Thus, exchange ratio should be 6 shares of X Ltd. for every 5 shares of Y Ltd.
Number of shares to be issued to Y Ltd.
6
= 20,000 x = 24,000
5
Total number of shares of X Ltd. after merger, shall be:
80,000 + 24,000 = 1,04,000
E.P.S. after merger, shall be = 4,00,000 + 1,20,000
5,20,000
= = `5
1,04,000
Total earnings available to shareholders of Y Ltd., after merger, shall be
24,000 x 5 = ` 1,20,000
Therefore, exchange ratio based on Earnings per share is recommended.
Illustration 6: Company X is contemplating the purchase of Company Y, Company X has
3,00,000 shares having a market price of ` 30 per share, while Company Y has 2,00,000
shares selling at ` 20 per share. The EPS are ` 4.00 and ` 2.25 for Company X and Y
respectively. Managements of both companies are discussing two alternative proposals for
exchange of shares as indicated below:
(i) in proportion to the relative earnings per share of two companies.
(ii) 0.5 share of Company X for one share of Company Y (.5:1).
You are required:
(i) to calculate the Earnings Per share (EPS) after merger under two alternatives; and
(ii) to show the impact of EPS for the shareholders of two companies under both the
alternatives.
Solution
Working Notes: Calculation of total earnings after merger
Particulars Company X Company Y Total
Outstanding shares 3,00,000 2,00,000
EPS (` ) 4 2.25
Total earnings (` ) 12,00,000 4,50,000 16,50,000



(i) (a) Calculation of EPS when exchange ratio is in proportion to relative EPS of two
companies
Company X 3,00,000
Company Y 2,00,000 x 2.25/4 1,12,500
Total number of shares after merger 4,12,500
Company X
EPS before merger = `4
EPS after merger = ` 16,50,000/4,12,500 shares = `4
Company Y
EPS before merger = ` 2.25
EPS after merger
= EPS before merger/Share Exchange ratio on EPS basis
2.25 2.25 = `4
= =
2.25 / 4 0.5625
(b) Calculation of EPS when share exchange ratio is 0.5:1
Total earnings after merger = ` 16,50,000
Total number of shares after merger = 3,00,000 + (2,00,000 x 0.5)
= 4,00,000 shares
EPS after merger = ` 16,50,000/4,00,000 = ` 4.125
(ii) Impact of merger on EPS for shareholders of Company X and Company Y
(a) Impact on Shareholders of Company X
(` )
EPS before merger 4.000
EPS after merger 4.125
Increase in EPS 0.125
(b) Impact on Shareholders of Company Y
(` )
Equivalent EPS before merger (2.25/0.5 4.500
EPS after merger 4.125
Decrease in EPS 0.375
Illustration 7: Simpson Ltd. is considering a merger with Wilson Ltd. The data below are in
the hands of both Board of Directors. The issue at hand is how many shares of Simpson
should be exchanged for Wilson Ltd. Both boards are considering three possibilities 20,000,
25,000 and 30,000 shares. You are required to construct a table demonstrating the potential
impact of each scheme on each set of shareholders:



Simpson Wilson Ltd. Combined
Ltd. Post merger
Firm ‘A’
1. Current earnings per year 2,00,000 1,00,000 3,50,000
2. Shares outstanding 50,000 10,000 ?
3. Earnings per share (` ) (1÷ 2) 4 10 ?
4. Price per share (` ) 40 100 ?
5. Price-earning ratio [4 ¸ 3] 10 10 10
6. Value of firm (` ) 20,00,000 10,00,000 35,00,000
7. Expected Annual growth rate in
earnings in foreseeable future 0 0 0
Solution
In a merger, in which shares are issued in payment to the selling company’s shareholders,
stockholders will find the merger desirable only if the value of their shares is higher with the
merger than without the merger. The number of shares that the buying company (Simpson
Ltd.) will issue in acquiring the selling company (Wilson Ltd.) is determined as follows:
(1) The acquiring company (Simpson Ltd.) will compare its value per share with and without
the merger.
(2) The selling company (Wilson Ltd.) will compare its value with the value of shares that
they would receive from Simpson Ltd. under the merger.
(3) The managements of Simpson Ltd. and Wilson Ltd. will negotiate the final terms of the
merger in the light of (1) and (2); the ultimate terms of the merger will reflect the relative
bargaining position of the two companies.
The fewer of Simpson Ltd.’s shares that Simpson Ltd. must pay to Wilson Ltd., the better off are
the shareholders of Simpson Ltd. and worse off are the shareholders of Wilson Ltd. However, for
the merger to be effected, the shareholders of both the buying and selling company will have to
anticipate some benefits from the merger. The following table demonstrates the potential impact of
the three possible schemes, on each set of shareholders:-
Number Exchange Number of Fraction of Value of Fraction of Value of
of ratio Simpson Firm A (Post shares owned Firm A shares
Simpson [(1)/10,000 Ltd.’s shares merger) by Wilson (combined owned by
Ltd.’s shares of outstanding owned by Ltd.’s Post-merger Simpson
shares Wilson Ltd.] after merger Wilson Ltd.’s shareholders owned by Ltd.’s
issued to [50,000+(1)] shareholders [(4)x Simpson shareholde
sharehold [(1)/(3)] 35,00,000] Ltd.’s share- rs [(6) x
ers of holders 35,00,000]
Wilson [50,000/(3)]
Ltd.
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
20,000 2 70,000 2/7 10,00,000 5/7 25,00,000
25,000 2.5 75,000 1/3 11,66,667 2/3 23,33,333
30,000 3 80,000 3/8 13,12,500 5/8 21,87,500



19.0 Cross-Border M&A
Cross-border M&A is a popular route for global growth and overseas expansion. Cross-border
M&A is also playing an important role in global M&A. This is especially true for developing
countries such as India. As explained by Eiteman et al. (2006):
The 1992 completion of the European Union’s Internal Market stimulated many of
these investments, as European, Japanese, and US firms jockeyed for stronger
market positions within the EU. However, the long-run US growth prospects and
political safety in the United States motivated more takeovers of US firms by foreign
firms, particularly from the United Kingdom and Japan, than vice versa.
Other major factors that motivate multinational companies to engage in cross-border M&A in
Asia include the following:
· Globalization of production and distribution of products and services.
· Integration of global economies.
· Expansion of trade and investment relationships on International level.
· Many countries are reforming their economic and legal systems, and providing generous
investment and tax incentives to attract foreign investment.
· Privatisation of state-owned enterprises and consolidation of the banking industry.

20.0 Decade of Corporate Churning and Change
Despite the churning and change that has taken place over the past decade, the corporate
sector has still to go a long way in improving its image and become globally competitive. The
successes and failures have not been industry-specific but company-specific. But at the
macro-level, the overall efficiency of industry has not shown much improvement.
The internal and external liberalisation measures introduced over the last decade and the
dramatic changes that have taken place in the international business environment have had a
far-reaching impact on Indian business. The face of Corporate India has changed more over
the past decade than in the preceding four decades thanks to the U-turn in the Government's
economic policy in 1991.
Major policy changes: The major policy changes introduced since July, 1991 include : (a)
abolition of industrial licensing; (b) lifting of restrictions on the size of firms; (c) a drastic
reduction in the areas reserved for the public sector; (d) disinvestments of Government equity
in public sector undertakings (PSUs) aimed at eventual privatisation of most of them; (e)
liberalisation of foreign investment regulations; (f) substantial liberalisation of import tariffs; (g)
removal of all quantitative restrictions on imports; (h) abolition of the office of the Controller of
Capital Issues (CC) and freedom to companies to set premia on their share issues; (i) freedom
to companies to rasie capital abroad; (j) rationalisation and lowering of excise and Customs
duties and (k) a substantial reduction in corporate and personal income tax rates.
In large measure, these reforms met the longstanding demands of the Indian industry to free it
from the plethora of controls and regulations, exorbitantly high rates of direct and indirect



taxes and severe restrictions on foreign exchange transactions. All the internal liberalisation
measures provided greater freedom and opportunities to the Indian companies and
entrepreneurs to expand their existing businesses and enter new areas hitherto reserved
exclusively for the public sector.
However, the corporate sector was not quite prepared for the other side of reforms, namely,
the external liberalisation and the movement towards globalisation, which opened the Indian
economy to competition from abroad. Although India was not strictly a closed economy even
before the launch of the reforms process, Indian industry was generally insulated from
external competition thanks to a variety of import restrictions and high tariff walls, the peak
level import duty being some 300 per cent.
Companies are now obliged to offer better quality products at increasingly competitive prices,
their profit margins are constantly under pressure. Under the earlier regime of protection,
'cost-plus' pricing was the norm in most cases. In the majority of cases, it was possible to pass
on the burden of higher costs and inefficiencies to the customer by charging a higher price for
the product.
To succeed in the new environment, companies are required to bring : New insights into
understanding the customer who is becoming increasingly demanding; the ability to design,
develop and produce new and more customer-friendly products of better quality; skills to
develop exclusive positions in the minds of the consumer; new processes, techniques and
technologies to ensure that costs are being continuously reduced, ways to restructure
organisations so that trained and talented people stay to give their best efforts; and
considerable funds to invest in marketing and building brand franchises.
Churning and restructuring: It is not surprising, therefore, that the Indian corporate sector is
undergoing a process of churning and restructuring. The fortunes of the once renowned family
business houses such as the Dalmia-Jain group, Sriram group, Walchands, Thapars,
Singhanias, Somanis, Wadias, Mafatlals, Khaitans and Modis have witnesssed an
unprecedened decline. With much erosion in their wealth, they lie scattered because of family
splits and mismanagement. However, Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani's Reliance Group has been an
exception. It managed to prosper and grow despite all odds by seizing the opportunities
provided by liberalisation and globalisation. Reliance Industries and Reliance Petroleum are
now among the top five companies in the country in terms of market capitalisation.
The decade also witnessed the phenomenal growth of the so-called New Economy companies
such as Infosys, Wipro and Satyam Computers which started creating more wealth than the
Tatas and Birlas. Mr Azim Premji of Wipro and Mr. Narayan Murthy of Infosys are the new
breed of entrepreneurs known for very high standards of corporate governance and global
outlook.
It must be said to the credit of at least some of the family business houses and leading
individual companies that they have not been silent spectators allowing the events to overtake
them. For instance, Mr. Ratan Tata has initiated measures since 1998 to restructure the Tata
empire with the help of management consultants McKinsey & Co. with a view to eventually
reduce the number of companies in the group from the existing 80 to 30 and cut down the
portfolio from 25 to just a dozen core businesses.



The restructuring exercises also include financial restructuring — restructuring of debt and
equity. Many companies hve been retiring the earlier high cost debt with the new low interest
bearing loans. The threat of hostile takeovers following the big slump in share values of Old
Economy companies has prompted managements to hike their equity stake. Gone are the
days when business families could exercise control on the management of companies with a
small equity stake, often less than 10 per cent.
Consolidation of market power: While the first wave of mergers and joint ventures was
driven primarily by competitive compulsions and as an outcome of business restructuring, of
late, the larger and more aggressive companies have been buying out the smaller ones to
assume market leadership. Till 1999, the biggest mergers and acquisitions deals were in the
FMCG industries that are traditionally intensely competitive and have become more so with
the entry of well-known international brands. A classic example of the extensions and
consolidation of market power is the Hindustan Lever's acquisition and restructuring spree
over the last few years. By 1998, it wrapped up five acquisitions (Tomco, Dollop's, Kwality,
Milkfood and Kissan) and effected a host of mergers — Doom Dooma with Brooke Bond,
Brooke Bond with Lipton, Pond's with Quest International, and finally Brooke Bond Lipton India
Ltd (BBLIL) with Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL). It acquired a 74 percent stake in Modern Foods
and turned it into a profitable venture.
M&As also took place in cement, aluminium, steel, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Incidentally, the biggest merger in India Inc took place in the telecom sector with BPL
Communications and the Birla-Tata-AT&T combine, two of the nation's biggest cellular
players, announcing an agreement to merge operations.
Where mergers were not convenient, companies tried to form strategic alliances.
Pharmaceutical companies such as Ranbaxy and Lupin Laboratories entered into strategic
alliances with some MNCs. Another strategy was to form joint ventures with foreign majors,
notably in automobile and consumer durable sectors. Unfortunately, most of these joint
ventures did not last long. Some of the prominent joint ventures between Indian and foreign
partners, particularly in the high-tech and high capital intensity automobile sectors, failed to
mature and the foreign partners assumed full control.
Despite the churning and change that has taken place over the past decade, the Indian
corporate sector has still to go a long way in improving its image and become globally
competitive. True, there have been notable winners across industries such as HLL, Reliance
Industries, Hindalco, Tisco, Hero Honda, Asian Paints, Sundram Fasteners, Ranbaxy, Dr.
Reddy's Laboratories, and the public sector companies BHEL and Punjab Tractors. The
successes and failures have not been industry specific but company specific. But at the macro
level, the overall efficiency of Indian industry has not shown much improvement.
While there has been some increase in expenditure on R&D and brand building, the Indian
companies are still lagging far behind their foreign counterparts. Here again, there are a few
exceptions. Naushad Forbes finds two major changes in corporate R&D. One is the
emergence of new companies, particularly in the pharma sector, as substantial spenders in
R&D.



With India recognising the foreign product patents, companies hve begun acquiring innovation
capacity. Ranbaxy & Dr. Reddy's have recently licensed out their discoveries to MNCs earning
fat royalties. Nicholas Piramal bought the R&D laboratory of Hoechst Marion Roussel. Second,
and more important, is the change in the character of R&D. While earlier the R&D expenditure
was mostly on import substitution and diversification, today a part of it is on reaching the
international technological frontier.
Unfortunately, the large public sector and the small-scale industries sector still lagging behind
in reforms. Unless the Government is able to push ahead vigorously with reforming these
sectors, along with a viable exit policy and labour reforms, they will continue to act as major
impediments to competitiveness.

Summary
Meaning of Merger and Acquisition
Halsburry’s Laws of England defined amalgamation as a blending of two or more existing
undertakings, the shareholders of each amalgamating company becoming substantially the
shareholders in the amalgamating company. Accordingly, in a merger, two or more
companies combine into a single unit.
The term “amalgamation” is used when two or more companies are amalgamated or where
one is merged with another or taken over by another. In Inland steam Navigation Workers
Union vs. R.S. Navigation Company Ltd. It was observed that in case of amalgamation, the
rights and liabilities of a company are amalgamated into another so that the transferee
company becomes vested with all rights and liabilities of the transferor company.
An acquisition is when both the acquiring and acquired companies are still left standing as
separate entities at the end of the transaction. A merger results in the legal dissolution of one
of the companies, and a consolidation dissolves both of the parties and creates a new one,
into which the previous entities are merged.
Types of Mergers
Horizontal merger- The two companies which have merged are in the same industry, normally
the market share of the new consolidated company would be larger and it is possible that it
may move closer to being a monopoly or a near monopoly.
Vertical merger- The merger of two companies which are in different field altogether, the
coming together of two concerns.
Reverse merger- Where, in order to avail benefit of carry forward of losses which are available
according to tax law only to the company which had incurred them, the profit making company
is merged with companies having accumulated losses.
Conglomerate Mergers- Such mergers involve firms engaged in unrelated type of business
operations. In other words, the business activities of acquirer and the target are not related to
each other horizontally (i.e., producing the same or competiting products) nor vertically
(Having relationship of buyer and supplier).



Congeneric Merger- In these mergers, the acquirer and the target companies are related
through basic technologies, production processes or markets.

Reasons and Rationale for Mergers and Acquisitions
· Synergistic operating economics: Synergy May be defined as follows:
V (AB) > V(A) + V (B).
In other words the combined value of two firms or companies shall be more than their
individual value. This may be result of complimentary services economics of scale or
both.
· Diversification: In case of merger between two unrelated companies would lead to
reduction in business risk.
· Taxation: The provision of set off and carry forward of losses as per Income Tax Aet may
be another strong season for the merger cud acquisition.
· Growth: Quickly, avoiding delays such attached with purchasing of building, site, setting
up of the plant and hiring personnel etc.
· Consolidation of Production Capacities and increasing market power: Due to reduction in
competition market power increases and also the production capacities are increased by
combined of two or more plants.

Gains from Mergers or Synergy
Value of acquirer + Stand alone value of target + Value of synergy = Combined value
However, there is also a cost attached to an acquisition. The cost of acquisition is the price
premium paid over the market value plus other costs of integration. Therefore, the net gain is
the value of synergy minus premium paid.
Following are five principal steps in a successful M & A programme.
1. Manage the pre-acquisition phase.
2. Screen candidates.
3. Eliminate those who do not meet the criteria and value the rest.
4. Negotiate.
5. Post-merger integration.
Scheme of Amalgamation or Merger- The scheme of any arrangement or proposal for a
merger is the heart of the process and has to be drafted with care. Two important aspects in
merger and acquisition are required to be looked into (i) Effective Date (ii) Valuation of Shares



Accounting for Amalgamations
Accounting Standard 14 on Accounting for Amalgamations, prescribes two methods of
accounting for amalgamations namely (a) the pooling of interest method and (b) the
purchased method. The pooling of interest method is confined to circumstances which meet
the criteria referred to in the definition of the amalgamation in the nature of merger. The object
of the purchase method is to account for the amalgamation by applying the same principle as
are applied in the normal purchase of assets. This method is used in accounting for
amalgamations in the nature of purchase. Under the purchase method, the transferee
company account for the amalgamations either by incorporating the assets and liabilities at
their existing carrying amounts or by allocating the consideration to individual identifiable
assets and liabilities of the transferor company on the basis of their fair value at the date of
amalgamation.
Problems for M & A in India
· Indian corporates are largely promoter-controlled and managed.
· In some cases, the need for prior negotiations and concurrence of financial institutions
and banks is an added rider, besides SEBI’s rules and regulations.
· The reluctance of financial institutions and banks to fund acquisitions directly.
· The BIFR route, although tedious, is preferred for obtaining financial concessions.
· Lack of Exit Policy for restructuring/downsizing.
· Absence of efficient capital market system makes the Market capitalisation not fair in
some cases.
· Valuation is still evolving in India.
Mergers in Specific Sectors
The Companies Act, 1956 and the SEBI’s Takeover Code are the general source of guidelines
governing merges. There are sector specific legislative provisions, which to a limited extent
empower the regulator to promote competition. For example, the Electricity Regulatory
Commission has been given powers under the Electricity Act, 2003 to promote competition.
Also in the telecom and broadcasting Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Regulate mergers in
these sectors and any dispute regarding the same is adjudicated by the Telecom Dispute
Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).
Acquisition and Takeover
(a) Acquisition or Takeover may be by way of-
(i) Acquisition of Companies shares.
(ii) Acquisition of business assets (ABOs).
(iii) Acquisition of Brand’s.
(iv) Acquisition of Companies by Friendly vs. Hostile takeover.
(v) Reverse acquisition



The two types of takeovers are:
· Friendly takeover:. Takeover through negotiations and with willingness and consent of
the acquired company’s Board of directors.
· Hostile takeover: An acquirer company may not offer to target company the proposal to
acquire its undertaking but silently and unilaterally pursue efforts to gain control in it
against the wishes of the management.
(b) Following techniques can be adopted for acquiring a company-
· Street Sweep: Technique where the acquiring company accumulates larger number of
shares in a target before making an open offer.
· Bear Hug: When the acquirer threatens the target to make an open offer, the board of
target company agrees to a settlement with the acquirer for change of control.
· Strategic Alliance: This involves disarming the acquirer by offering a partnership rather
than a buyout. The acquirer should assert control from within and takeover the target
company.
· Brand Power: This refers to entering into an alliance with powerful brands to displace the
target’s brands and as a result, buyout the weakened company.
Takeover by Reverse Bid
a smaller company gains control of a larger one. The concept of takeover by reverse bid, or of
reverse merger, is thus not the usual case of amalgamation of a sick unit which is non-viable
with a healthy or prosperous unit but is a case whereby the entire undertaking of the healthy
and prosperous company is to be merged and vested in the sick company which is non-viable.
This alternative is also known as taking over by reverse bid.
The Acquisition Process
The acquisition process involves the following five essential stages:
(i) Competitive analysis;
(ii) Search and screen.
(iii) Strategy development.
(iv) Financial evaluation.
(v) Negotiation.
Defending a company in a takeover bid
A target company can adopt a number of tactics to defend itself from hostile takeover through
a tender offer.
· Divestiture: In a divestiture the target company divests or spins off some of its
businesses in the form of an independent, subsidiary company.
· Crown jewels: When a target company uses the tactic of divestiture it is said to sell the
crown jewels.



· Poison pill: Sometimes an acquiring company itself becomes a target when it is bidding
for another company. The tactics used by the acquiring company to make itself
unattractive to a potential bidder is called poison pills.
· Poison Put: In this case the target company issue bonds that encourage holder to cash
in at higher prices.
· Greenmail: Greenmail refers to an incentive offered by management of the target
company to the potential bidder for not pursuing the takeover.
· White knight: In this a target company offers to be acquired by a friendly company to
escape from a hostile takeover.
· White squire: This strategy is essentially the same as white knight and involves sell out
of shares to a company that is not interested in the takeover.
· Golden parachutes: When a company offers hefty compensations to its managers if they
get ousted due to takeover, the company is said to offer golden parachutes. This reduces
their resistance to takeover.
· Pac-man defence: This strategy aims at the target company making a counter bid for the
acquirer company.
Legal Aspects of M & As
In addition to other provisions of Companies Act other statues which governs merger
proposals are-
· Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951
· Foreign Exchange Management Act, 2000
· Income Tax Act, 1961
· SEBI Act, 1992.
Due diligence
Due diligence is research, its purpose in M&A is to support the valuation process, arm negotiators,
test the accuracy of representations and warranties contained in the merger agreement, fulfill
disclosure requirements to investors, and inform the planners of post-merger integration. Due
diligence is conducted in a wide variety of corporate finance settings, and is usually connected with
the performance of a professional or fiduciary duty. It is the opposite of negligence.
A due diligence process should focus at least on the following issues:
· Legal issues
· Financial and tax issues
· Marketing issues
· Cross-border issues
· Cultural and ethical issues



Target Valuation for M & A
The value of a business is a function of the business logic driving the M&A and is based on
bargaining powers of buyers and sellers. Since business is based on expectations which are
dynamic, valuation also tends to be dynamic and not static which means that the same
transaction would be valued by the same players at different values at two different times.
Shareholders value creation depends not on pre-merger market valuation of the target
company but on the actual acquisition price the acquiring company pays compared with the
setting company’s cash flow contribution to the combined company.
There are several techniques to value a business. We have studied valuation of stocks and
bonds. You understand terms like BVPS (book value per share), Price to book and P/E (price /
earnings per share). Now question arises how do you value a firm?
Following are various techniques to value a business:
A. Earnings Based Valuation
This can be further sub-divided into following catagories:.
1. Discounted Cash flow/Free cash flow
There are six steps involved in the valuation
Step 1: Determination of Free Cash Flow.
Step 2 : Estimation of a suitable Discount Rate for the Acquisition
Step 3 : Calculation of the Present Value of Cash Flows
Step 4 : Estimation of the Terminal Value.
Step 5 : Addition of Present Value of Terminal Value.
Step 6 : Deduction of Value of Debt and Other Obligations Assumed by the Acquirer.
2. Cost to create
In this approach, the cost for building up the business from scratch is taken into consideration
and the purchase price is typically the cost plus a margin.
3. Capitalised Earning Method
The value of a business is estimated in the capitalized earnings method by capitalizing the net
profits of the business of the current year or average of three years or a projected year at
required rate of return. There are many variations in how this method is applied.
4. Chop-Shop Method
This approach attempts to identify multi-industry companies that are undervalued and would
have more value if separated from each other. This approach involves following three steps:
Step 1: Identification of the firm’s various business segments and calculation of the average
capitalization ratios for firms in those industries.
Step 2: Calculation of a “theoretical” market value based upon each of the average
capitalization ratios.



Step 3: Averaging the “theoretical” market values to determine the value of the firm.
B. Market based valuation
This can be further sub-divided into following catagories:.
1. Market capitalization for listed companies : Method of evaluating the market capitalization
for listed companies is same as Capitalized Earning Method except that here the basis is
taken earning of similar type of companies.
2. Market multiples of comparable companies for unlisted company : In this method various
Market multiples i.e. market value of a company’s equity (resulting in Market Value of Equity
Multiple) or invested capital (resulting in Market Value of Invested Capital) are divided by a
company measure (or company fundamental financial variable) – earnings, book value or
revenue- of comparable listed companies are computed. These computed multiples are then
adjusted in light of differences in under consideration company’s growth, size or any company
specific risk vis-à-vis as those of guideline company. Thereafter these adjusted market
multiples are applied to the appropriate fundamental financial variable of the company under
consideration to derive its value.
C. Asset based valuation
(1) Net Adjusted Asset Value or Economic Book Value : Valuation of a 'going concern' business
by computed by adjusting the value of its all assets and liabilities to the fair market value. This
method allows for valuation of goodwill, inventories, real estate, and other assets at their current
market value. This method includes valuation of intangible assets and also allows assets to be
adjusted to their current market value.
(2) Intangible Asset Valuation : Mainly for the valuation of identifiable intangible assets and
intellectual property falling into following three broad categories. They are market based, cost
based, or based on estimates of past and future economic benefits.
Cost-based methodologies, such as the “cost to create” or the “cost to replace” ignores
changes in the time value of money and ignores maintenance.
The methods of valuation flowing from an estimate of past and future economic benefits (also
referred to as the income methods) can be broken down in to following four limbs;
a) Capitalization of historic profits
b) Gross profit differential methods
c) Excess profits methods
d) The relief from royalty method.
(3) Liquidation Value : This approach is similar to the book valuation method, except that the
value of assets at liquidation are used instead of the book or market value of the assets. Using
this approach, the liabilities of the business are deducted from the liquidation value of the
assets to determine the liquidation value of the business. The overall value of a business
using this method should be lower than a valuation reached using the standard book or
adjusted book methods.



Corporate Restructuring
Restructuring usually involves major organizational changes such as shift in corporate
strategies. Restructuring can be internally in the form of new investments in plant and
machinery, Research and Development of products and processes, hiving off of non-core
businesses, divestment, sell-offs, de-merger etc. Restructuring can also take place externally
through mergers and acquisition (M&A) and by forming joint-ventures and having strategic
alliances with other firms.
(1) Demergers or divisions
Different ways of divestment or demerger are as follows:
Sell off: A sell off is the sale of an asset, factory, division, product line or subsidiary by one
entity to another for a purchase consideration payable either in cash or in the form of
securities.
Spin-off: In this case, a part of the business is separated and created as a separate firm. The
existing shareholders of the firm get proportionate ownership.
Split-up: This involves breaking up of the entire firm into a series of spin off (by creating
separate legal entities). The parent firm no longer legally exists and only the newly created
entities survive. For instance a corporate firm has 4 divisions namely A, B, C, D. All these 4
division shall be split-up to create 4 new corporate firms with full autonomy and legal status.
Carve outs: This is like spin off however, some shares of the new company are sold in the
market by making a public offer, so this brings cash. In carve out, the existing company may
sell either majority stake or minority stake, depending upon whether the existing management
wants to continue to control it or not.
Sale of A Division: In the case of sale of a division, the seller company is demerging its
business whereas the buyer company is acquiring a business. For the first time the tax laws in
India propose to recognise demergers.
(2) Demerger or division of family-managed business
The family-owned companies are, under extraordinary pressure to yield control to professional
managements, as, in the emerging scenario of a liberalised economy the capital markets are
broadening, with attendant incentives for growth. So, many of these companies are arranging
to hive off their unprofitable businesses or divisions with a view to meeting a variety of
succession problems.
(3) Corporate Controls
Going Private: This refers to the situation wherein a listed company is converted into a private
company by buying back all the outstanding shares from the markets.
Equity buyback: This refers to the situation wherein a company buys back its own shares back
from the market. This results in reduction in the equity capital of the company.



Restructuring of an existing business: An existing business in the face of impending onslaught
of international competition, or even otherwise, may require restructuring. Such restructuring
may involve, for instance, downsizing and closing down of some unprofitable departments.
Buy-outs: This is also known as Management buyouts (MBO). In this case, the management of
the company buys a particular part of the business from the firm and then incorporates the
same as a separate entity.
Management buy-ins: The Buy-ins is a hybrid form involving both existing and new
managements. The late 1990s saw the developments of investor buy-outs where venture
capital groups initiated and lead transactions, with managements playing a marginal role.
Financial Restructuring
Financial restructuring refers to a kind of internal changes made by the management in Assets and
Liabilities of a company with the consent of its various stakeholders. This is a suitable mode of
restructuring for corporate entities who have suffered from sizeable losses over a period of time.
Consequent upon losses the share capital or networth of such companies get substantially eroded.
Merger Failures or Potential Adverse Competitive Effects
The reasons for merger failures can be numerous however some of the key reasons are :
· Acquirers generally overpay;
· The value of synergy is over-estimated;
· Poor post-merger integration; and
· Psychological barriers.
Maximum Purchase Consideration
Maximum purchase consideration is value of vendor’s business from the viewpoint of the
purchaser. This is given by present value incremental cash flow accruing to the purchaser on
acquisition of vendor’s business. This cash flow can be different from cash flow generated by
vendor’s business due to synergy. The discounting rate should reflect risk associated with the
business of the vendor.
Acquiring for Shares: The acquirer can pay the target company in cash or exchange shares in
consideration. The analysis of acquisition for shares is slightly different. The steps involved in
the analysis are:
· Estimate the value of acquirer’s (self) equity;
· Estimate the value of target company’s equity;
· Calculate the maximum number of shares that can be exchanged with the target
company’s shares; and
· Conduct the analysis for pessimistic and optimistic scenarios.
Impact of Price Earning Ratio: A lower combined P/E ratio can offset the gains of synergy or a
higher P/E ratio can lead to higher value of business, even if there is no synergy. In
ascertaining the exchange ratio of shares due care should be exercised to take the possible
combined P/E ratio into account.



Cross-border M&A
Cross-border M&A is a popular route for global growth and overseas expansion. Cross-border
M&A is also playing an important role in global M&A. This is especially true for developing
countries such as India. Other major factors that motivate multinational companies to engage
in cross-border M&A in Asia include the following:
· Globalization of production and distribution of products and services.
· Integration of global economies.
· Expansion of trade and investment relationships on International level.
· Many countries are reforming their economic and legal systems, and providing generous
investment and tax incentives to attract foreign investment.
· Privatisation of state-owned enterprises and consolidation of the banking industry.


Mergers and Acquisitions IB

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