Top 5 Private Business & Investment Articles to Start the Week: Strategic M&A and Build vs Buy

1. Sara Lee’s (Dead) Weight Loss Strategy

Author: Michael Corkery

Great overview from the Wall Street Journal Deal Journal on a topic that has been trending throughout the web in recent days: Sara Lee’s planned divestiture of its American bakery business.

Although the Financial Times is bullish on Sara Lee’s prospects for a sale based on the premise that financial investors are clamoring for defensive investments, both the Deal Journal and Luisa Beltran at PEHub are much less enthusiastic.

2. How to Decide Whether your Business Should Build or Buy

Author: Matt Quinn

In his latest article for Inc.com, Matt Quinn explains that expanding through acquisition is a great way to take advantage of “an instant infrastructure, customer base, cash flow, inventory, physical plant, distribution network and supply chain”, but that is exposes business owners to the risk of inheriting someone else’s problems.

Organic growth, on the other hand, allows the business owner to retain complete control over the product and the process as the company matures, but this can be a long, arduous path.

How to decide?  Check out the article for a full list of considerations to take into account.

3. M&A Can, Sometimes, Benefit Shareholders

Author: Rob Cox

Conventional wisdom holds that an acquisition benefits the shareholders of the target company at the expense of their counter-parties at the acquiring company (at least in the short term), but Rob Cox at Reuters Breaking Views points to recently formed Stanley Black & Decker’s terrific Q2 numbers – and surging share values – as evidence that this isn’t always the case.

4. But Where is the Money?

Author: David Port

Although the current administration has vowed to make small business lending a cornerstone of the recovery, David Port points out that small business lending is down $40B from where it was two years ago, and that many small business owners are still struggling to finance their growth.

Fielding questions on the topic for Entrepreneur Magazine is Karen G. Mills, head of the U.S. Small Business Association – click here for the full interview.

5. A Singular Moment for Transaction Value?

Authors: Anish Melwani and Werner Rehm

With private equity investment down, debt scarce, and market valuations at their most realistic in years, authors Melwani and Rehm argue in this month’s issue of McKinsey Quarterly that the time is ripe for corporations to execute on strategic acquisitions.

In fact, their opinion is that “the landscape for strategic acquirers hasn’t looked this promising in decades”… but you had better act fast.

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