Deal
When we commented on share buybacks recently, we alluded to the “bad name” that M&A has received. We mentioned that, on average, M&A “destroys value” as defined by some academic studies and as seen in real life all too often. We’ve now come accross a Strategy & Business article listing “the top-10 M&A fallacies and self-deceptions”, and it’s a good list of reasons why M&A may go wrong, or may not be the best choice. Change a few words and some of the 10 points can be used to consider share buybacks as well.
Reading an article about an interesting Education business had us thinking of regulation and, primarily, goals for Education. The current debate about Public Education in the US focuses on adjustments/ improvements to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which is all about accountability. In a separate story, Tom Friedman reminds us that the top-notch jobs of the future may require skill-sets (and individual attitude) that current education models may simply be unable to provide. But when you’re a Brazilian public education student and the debate isn’t even close to scratching the surface of the “accountability” trend, it’s definitely a scary future.
Motivated by the recent LBO of IMS Health by TPG (the private equity group) and Canada Pension Plan, here’s an excerpt from our Q3 2009 report in which we discussed the company. We had been looking at it at least since 2007, when we started to look at the healthcare industry globally. Right after our text we link to other interesting articles on the deal.
