This book provides a transactional approach to many of the issues that arise in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), including corporate, securities, antitrust, Federal income taxation, accounting, and valuation. The principal purpose of this book is to help train law students in the art of doing M&A deals. This edition follows the structure of the third edition with the following major changes and additions: (1) new and current materials have been added to virtually all of the chapters; (2) the materials dealing with freeze-out mergers and going private transactions, which previously were addressed in Chapter 24, have been integrated into the coverage of LBOs in Chapter 14; (3) virtually all of the cases and materials dealing with fiduciary duties are now included in Chapter 3, and where such issues arise in other chapters, references are made to the materials in Chapter 3; and (4) in view of the increasing importance of shareholder activism, Chapter 25 now focuses exclusively on that topic. Additionally, Chapter 27 now provides brief introductions to the following topics, which were covered in greater detail in the third edition: banking M&A (former Chapter 27); telecommunications M&A (former Chapter 28); public utility M&A (former Chapter 29), bankruptcy M&A (former Chapter 30); and joint ventures (former Chapter 31). Chapter 27 also briefly introduces issues in healthcare M&A.