Merger and Acquisitions Legal English General Vocabulary 101
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If you want to improve your salary, start improving your vocabulary.
— Wall Street Proverb
Always know how your counterpart makes their money.
M&A Vocabulary – List 1
A conditional bid
A merger
A target company
A controlling interest
A “Poison pill”
An unconditional bid
A hostile takeover
A shareholder
A bidder
A White Knight
In a takeover bid, another person or business makes an offer to the (1) ______________ to buy their shares at a fixed price. The aim of this is to take control of the (2) ______________.
If it is a welcome takeover bid, the directors of the company advise the shareholders to accept the offer. If the shareholders accept the offer, the result is usually called a (3) ______________.
If the bid is unwelcome, the directors advise the shareholders against accepting it. The bidders may then write to the shareholders explaining the advantages of the takeover, and perhaps improving the offer for the shares. This is known as a (4) ______________ bid.
To avoid an unwelcome takeover bid, the directors may devise a (5) ______________ – a tactic that will mean the company is worth much less if the takeover bid is successful. Alternatively, they may look for a (6) ______________ – an alternative (7) ______________, for the company whose takeover would be more welcome.
In an (8) ______________, the bidder offers a price for each share regardless of how many shares it can buy. In a (9) ______________, the offer price depends on the bidder being able to buy enough shares to gain a (10) ______________ in the target company.
M&A Vocabulary – List 2
Asset Stripping
To control
Code of Practice
To buy up
To consolidate
Cross-Border
To buy out
Majority
1. Bank of America bought a __________ shareholding in smaller financial entities in the 2000’s.
a. more-than-half
b. biggest
c. majority
d. massive
2. In the US & UK, mergers and acquisitions are not __________ by the government.
a. controlled
b. checked
c. regulated
d. dominated
3. However, they are subject to a voluntary __________.
a. code of conduct
b. code of practice
c. way of doing things
d. bylaws
4. Buying a company for less than the value of its assets, then selling those assets to make a profit is called __________.
a. asset stripping
b. profiteering
c. exploitation
d. yield planning
5. Sometimes a controlling interest in a company is bought by its managers. This called a management __________.
a. buy-out
b. buy-up
c. buy-in
d. buy-back
6. In the past, a lot of small banks were __________ by larger ones.
a. bought up
b. eaten up
c. chewed up
d. messed up
7. In other words, there was __________ in the banking industry.
a. amalgamation
b. combining
c. consolidation
d. consideration
8. A takeover of a foreign company is known as a __________ deal.
a. cross-border
b. cross-state
c. cross-limit
d. cross-boundary
Word Collocation
Match the words in Column A with Column B to make locations.
Column A
A small …
An income …
To donate …
High …
To pay by …
To pay in …
To make …
Winners and …
Column B
… a profit
… amount of money
… cost of living
… cash
… credit card
… losers
… money to charity
… of 10,000 a year
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