MIT OpenCourseWare: The Law of Mergers and Acquisitions

MIT OpenCourseWare

15.649 The Law of Mergers and Acquisitions

Interested in the law behind Mergers and Acquisitions? Through MIT’s OpenCourseWare project, you can follow a previously held class for self study.  This class was taught at the Sloan School of Management in the spring of 2003.  The Fastcase blog focus will be classes related to the legal world but the OpenCourseWare initiative has many classes in numerous disciplines and is well worth checking out on its own.

Course Description:

This course is designed to give students an introduction to the law-sensitive aspects of Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A). In Module I, we examine the legal implications of key roles and deal structures, and walk through some of the issues that would typically arise in a simple and friendly transaction. We also give a class to the legal issues arising in LBOs and the legal concerns of financial sponsors more generally, and another class to employment-related issues, including those relating to managers facing unsettled circumstances. In Module II, we look at a variety of complications, including those that arise in the friendly or unfriendly purchase of a publicly-held company; deals involving distressed and hi-tech companies; antitrust concerns; allegations of misconduct by management or board members; and deals involving non-U.S. companies. 

Course Materials:

  • Course Syllabus
  • Lecture Notes
    • Tax Considerations in Deal Structures
    • Putting The Deal Together
    • Employment Law: The Perspectives of Key Employees and of the Corporation as an Employer
    • Intellectual Property as an Asset; Selling and Buying the Hi-tech Start-up
    • The Legal Liability of Managers and Board Members
    • Antitrust Concerns and Regulatory Clearance
    • The Distressed Company

Additional Materials:
Readings
Assignments
Study Materials
Download All Course Materials (Zip File)

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