transaction.
Companies who enter into mergers nearly always use a third-party to help bring about the transaction. In some cases, these third parties are securities firms; in other cases, they are investment bankers. Often, the two are combined for the purposes of a transaction. These third parties help companies looking to expand their business find appropriate target companies, and then they help arrange financing for the transaction. These organizations may also work with companies who are trying to avoid a hostile takeover or who need an infusion of capital. In these instances, the third-parties help bring together appropriate combinations of companies and personnel. Companies who engage in this type of activity include Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and First Boston (Big-League Payoff, 1994, p. 7).
Mergers and Acquisitions in the 1980s
Mergers and acquisitions reached a peak in the 1980s, then fell off considerably as the financial markets weathered the effects of the savings and loan crisis,
...