Mergers & Acquisitions

The M&A course concentrates and builds on corporate strategy and the financial know-how and employs five different practitioner’s perspectives of M&A.

It was a great experience as practical exercises and guest speakers from different industries entice you to engage with the subject in a practical way. Our first class was an introduction to Mergers and Acquisitions by Prof. Dr. Thomas Hutzschenreuter teaching us about M&A motives for managers and shareholders as well as back and forward integration and the overall structure.

Prof. Dr. Malte Brettel acquainted us with the selling owner’s perspective on M&A deals and shared his experience on his company Just Books who later merged to became AbeBooks.de who then was strategically acquired by Amazon.com. He introduces the class on potential buyers who are either financial acquires or strategic acquires as well as advantages and disadvantages on IPO evaluation of young companies.

Dr. Matthias Hentzen

M&A has a strong legal aspect to it as well so Dr. Matthias Hentzen, Managing Partner at Sozietät Hengeler Müller took time to explain our class the legal advisor’s perspective of M&A deals. We had to assess a legal Share Purchase Agreement between the seller and purchasing parties.

We also had the privilege to listen and engage with Erik Hummitzsch (PwC Partner) and Robbert-Paul Roomberg (PwC Manager) who talked about the Due Diligence process from a consultant’s perspective and we worked on Project Rocket case study.

One of the last lectures and engaging discussions was with Thomas Nugel (Vice President) of HVB/UniCredit who took us through a case study which focused on the Fairness opinion and all forms of valuation methodologies necessary for an M&A transaction. There is a lot of information that one needs to look at when to evaluate the right share price and trading analysis, DCF analysis, comparable trading analysis etc. Our last consultant guest was Dr. Christian Zentner (Head of Legal M&A Energy/Syndikus) of Siemens AG, who introduced the Inhouse consultancy functions as well as portfolio management and IPO vs. Public transactions. The secret of the ‘deal book’ was especially interesting as it lists the potential listed company targets. We discussed voting rights, squeeze outs and insider trading rules.

This course gave great insights into the different M&A processes and trains business owners on risks that can potentially arise as well as how to prepare for an M&A deal. M&A follow economic cycles and often suffer from poor post merger disease, therefore it is important to know the industry, plan integration, prepare due diligence and reduce potential overpriced agreements. With this course you are equipped to tackle such challenges and eliminate potential risks.

Wild, wild ventures – IdeaLab! 2012

As every year one of the most important conferences for innovation and entrepreneurship took place at WHU on October 12 & 13^th. As always, the IdeaLab! gathered amazing speakers such as Oliver Samwer, who is the founder of ebay Germany (alando), Jamba and nowadays is leading one of the most successful incubators. Also Lars Hinrichs, the founder of Xing as well as international guests such as Sahil Lavingia (Pinterest) or Gregor Hochmuth (Instagram) gave speeches. But not only established founders had the opportunity to get on stage, but also elected recent founders that wanted to present their ideas to venture capitalists in front of the entire audience. It was great to see innovative idea pitches live. Additionally to great speakers, there were several networking opportunities in the breaks, at dinner or at the networking lounge as well as a great closing party. Not only start-ups or those participants to become founders were present, but also investors such as venture capitalist firms. Altogether the event was highly professionally organized, provided a lot of fun and networking opportunities. I personally enjoyed the event a lot as I had the chance to meet really interesting and inspiring people. One thing for sure: I will attend IdeaLab! again next year!

One (fashion) week in Milan - MBAs return from Bocconi Business School

Mergers and Acquisitions and Luxury Business Insights were the two courses our group of six WHU delegates attended and both were a thrilling and exciting experience in Italy’s Finance and Fashion Capital. An international field of participants from the US, Europe, the Middle East and Asia was put together to feel Italian working and life style – especially the participants of the Luxury Business Insights. Being thrown into a uncomparable “vanity fair” during Milan’s fashion week  not only the formidable lecturers and guest speakers made staying impressions but also the “undercover” field research trips to Milan’s "Königsallee", the Via Monte Napoleone. Dispatched in small teams “mystery shopping” was one task to gain – in the fullest sense of the word - real life Luxury Business Insights. Evening trips to Milan’s hot spots like Armani Club Privé, the Bulgari Bar and the Just Cavalli club showed the emerging cross-over of fashion, luxury and service sector, which leads to a whole new perspective on brand management.

Field trip to Hamburg

This year, more than half of our MBA class had the opportunity to visit Airbus, Google and HHLA in Hamburg. Moreover we had the chance to meet and network with the new MLB students at the Bucerius Law School.

Hamburg is the headquarters of Airbus Germany and the impressive grounds employ more than 10,000 workers and contribute in the development and engineering of the Airbus. The impressive company is responsible for the A300/A310/A320 family aircraft and the striking A380 fitted with their cabin interiors and painted for delivery. When you get a chance to see the A380 Airbus the overwhelming thought comes to mind of how a machine of such size can even lift of, let alone fly. The final assembly line for the Airbuses is as expected spotless clean and of operational excellence.

The Hamburger Hafen and Logistik AG (HHLA) is one of the most innovative companies in port logistics and one of the world’s most important cargo ports of the world as it contributes substantially to the globalization of the world economy. The most impressive view from the bus by far was the implementation of energy efficient and the battery-powered AGVs, which are integrated into normal fleet operations. The AGVs carry 60 tonnes of containers back and forth and self charge when batteries run low. The ports strengths undoubtedly lie in the areas of eco friendly and sustainability and it certainly implemented its business model of ecologically sustainable transport chains between ocean-going vessels and feeder ships and between ocean-going vessels and railway networks.

Google GmbH (ABC str. 19, 20354 Hamburg)

The GoogleHamburg offices, well as you would expect...were amazing! The commercial headquarters for Germany are located on ABC-Strasse 19 close to the famous Junfernstieg (lakeside promenade) and city hall. As a Googler you have access to 24/7 canteens, organic foods, game rooms and a gym with personal trainers. Lars Lehne the country director introduced us to the business model, challenges ahead and innovative projects like fiber rabbit, dear sophie, google glass and google car. Amazing stuff!

Leadership week

Dr. Michael Wiehen 

It is the 3^rd of September 2012, the start of a new semester, the summer break is over and we are confronted by a new challenging week of the MBA program: Leadership practice week!

Throughout the program, you are faced with repeated tough questions. Questions like, what are your core values? What kind of leader are you? How do you lead a team? It is a self-critical analysis of where you are and where you would like to be.

John Kerrick is back from the USA, he shares his personal story with us on how he achieved his five year dream and how he visualised it. He encourages us to reflect daily on all activities we encounter and supports us through his personal coaching and how to achieve and lead personal change. He accompanies us this week through our challenges, observes and motivates...and I can still hear him sing a Jimmy Hendricks song.

Another interesting visitor all the way from sunny India this week is Subroto Bagchi (Indian entrepreneur and co-founder of MindTree Inc.). We learn to deal with complex challenges leaders face, self-awareness, ethics in business and the platform and purpose: Your life in two dimensions. We get interactive and our colleagues are put to the test as a project manager to en-act a real life situation with demanding obstacles. A group of terrorists are high-jacking a passenger plane, the media is invasive, the relatives on the ground are hysterical, a mother is about to give birth on the plane and needs a doctor and the terrorists are demanding. There are various other ‘alpha’ characters such as the trigger friendly army officer and the head of police who is resistant to co-operate and dislikes the PR lady. The Doctor is unwilling to help and the newspaper editor with the most crucial knowledge and information is not asked and keeps quite. 

Our week long practice journey continues with ethics and responsibility with Professor Müthel and guest lectures on ethics in business from the Managing Director Sabine Hansen of Amprop and Dr. Michael Wiehen, founder of TransparencyInternational. Both give us insights into bribery and difficult business decisions. Professor Müthel tells us about her ‘wild pigs’ she encountered in her professional career and we share our ‘wild pig’ experiences.

Thomas Kraus

Sometimes it feels like we are students of Hogwarts, as Thomas Kraus (CEO, TNT Express Germany) takes us on a journey with his fluffy Owl. His theme is Leadership in Practice! He shares his journey of his most useful business tools, which helped him during his professional career. He makes us reflect: Why are you living and working the way you are? Who would you happily follow as a leader? He reminds us that failures is success inside out and to always look at the facts when you are stuck and remove all emotion. Change always happens, it is the attitude you have towards it. Finally we are confronted with sticky tape, magazines and 15 minutes to answer the question: what leader am I today? And the leader I aspire to be. We all wish to make an impact and the magazines are passed around, torn out, glued on, stuck together! Many have happiness, giving back to society, family, creating wealth and empowering messages of success. The question lingers: What impact do you wish to make in this world?

Saturday, it is 8:30am as the bus departs to Bendorf Sayn. The feeling is that of excitement and nervousness...we all know it is getting physical. General Kretschmer is ready to welcome us and his troops of professional army guides. After being allocated in teams, we hike to our destination: Kletterwald Sayn. We are in the forest of mixed trees in which the third highest German tree reaches 55 meters. We are in the middle of the woods and around us are obstacles that lead us from one tree platform to the next. All obstacle courses are named by mountain ranges; from Kilimanjaro to the Himalaya mountain tops. This task is a challenge; it is excellent training for your body and mind. If you are afraid of heights, good luck! Learn how to balance, boost your self-confidence, enhance team efforts and encouragement and align yourself with nature again. What a great experience. I see myself storm ahead, whilst others seem to linger in a meditative state when facing the obstacles. I am getting encouragement and tip’s how to use my arms and legs. Big lesson here is: learn your boundaries and know yourself plus this is a team effort, you cannot walk or swing it all alone.

It is amazing how much you can learn in just one week! With a smirk on my face, I fall into a deep sleep.