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外文文献 Mergers and Acquisitions Basics :All You Need To Know Introduction to Mergers and Acquisitions The first decade of the new millennium heralded an era of global mega-mergers. Like the mergers and acquisitions (MAs) frenzy of the 1980s and 1990s, several factors fueled activity through mid-2007: readily available credit, historically low interest rates, rising equity markets, technological change, global competition, and industry consolidation. In terms of dollar volume, MA transactions reached a record level worldwide in 2007. But extended turbulence in the global credit markets soon followed. The speculative housing bubble in the United States and elsewhere, largely financed by debt, burst during the second half of the year. Banks, concerned about the value of many of their own assets, became exceedingly selective and largely withdrew from financing the highly leveraged transactions that had become commonplace the previous year. The quality of assets held by banks through out Europe and Asia also became suspect, reflecting the global nature of the credit markets. As credit dried up, a malaise spread worldwide in the market for highly leveraged MA transactions. By 2008, a combination of record high oil prices and a reduced availability of credit sent most of the world’s economies into recession, reducing global MA activity by more than one-third from its previous high. This global recession deepened during the first half of 2009—despite a dramatic drop in energy prices and highly stimulative monetary and fiscal policies—extending the slump in MA activity. In recent years, governments worldwide have intervened aggressively in global credit markets (as well as in manufacturing and other sectors of the economy) in an effort to restore business and consumer confidence, restore credit market functioning, and offset deflationary pressures. What impact have such actions had on mergers and acquisitions? It is too early to tell, but the implications may be significant. M